


Some Hogwarts Shit

by PrincexofxFlowers, thesirenserenity



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Emotionally Constipated Boys, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gryffindor Keith (Voltron), Gryffindor Lance (Voltron), Hogwarts, Hogwarts AU, Hufflepuff Hunk, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Multi, Mutual Pining, Pidge is a little shit, Ravenclaw Allura, Ravenclaw Matt, Slow Burn, Slytherin Pidge, The power of friendship, minor shallura, painfully slow burn, ravenclaw shiro, team voltron - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2019-07-07 23:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 45,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15918447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincexofxFlowers/pseuds/PrincexofxFlowers, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesirenserenity/pseuds/thesirenserenity
Summary: “He’s probably worried I won’t be his friend anymore.”Coran went quiet for a moment and Lance could tell he was debating something.“This… isn’t really my place to say this… but he might need to be reminded that you’re his friend. Especially after this.”Lance blinked, confused. “What?”“Just… to clear the air a bit.” Coran stirred his tea needlessly. “Set some things straight… Reaffirm the old camaraderie... bond…”“Coran,” Lance said seriously. “Are you telling me that Keith doesn’t think we’re friends?”“That’s not what I’m telling you at all,” Coran said and took a sip of his tea. “But I may be very heavily implying it.”“Oh my gosh.” Lance let his head fall back onto his chair and stared up at the ceiling, trying to comprehend how he’d made it through two years of an apparently one-sided friendship without noticing. “Of course. Only Keith.”---Lance spends seven years trying to explain his relationship with Keith... to Keith. Plus some adventure shit, the power of friendship, and Room of Requirement shenanigans





	1. Year Three: Rivalry and Friendshit

**Author's Note:**

> This is a monster. We're only a little sorry. (Only sorry that it's going to take us so long to write.)
> 
> We've been working on this since Easter and thus have everything outlined and planned out. It's gonna be big.
> 
> But what better time to publish the first than during Hogwarts week of Klance Positivity Month!
> 
> So without further ado, we hope you enjoy!

Lance stood on his tiptoes trying to peer over the crowd for Hunk, Blue’s carrying case securely in his hand. He ran a nervous hand over his deep maroon sweater and patted the front pocket of his jeans for his wand. After not carrying it on him regularly all summer, it was a bit weird to have to keep track of something so important. 

“Lance!” a familiar voice rang out. 

Lance turned to see Hunk jogging towards him, already in his robes, which were streaming open to show off his goldenrod sweater. A large grin stretched across his face, matching Hunk’s. The larger boy swept him up in a huge bear hug and Lance latched on, squeezing tight. He missed his best friend over the summer! 

“Hunk! Bro! I missed you so much!” 

“Lance! Bro! I missed you so much too!” Hunk answered, swinging him around. 

“Wait!” Lance said laughing, “Watch out for Blue! You know she hates the carrier even without it swinging around.” 

“Ope!” Hunk set him down and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry, buddy!” He then bent down to peer into the carrier, “And I’m sorry for startling you, little Miss Blue! I missed my cuddly kitty!” 

Lance giggled at Hunk cooing over his cat. “Is Pidge here yet? I miss my little gremlin.” 

Hunk straightened up and swung an arm over Lance’s shoulders. “Yeah! Pidge, Keith, and Matt already have a compartment. I think Shiro is waiting for Allura because she was staying with Coran for the last couple weeks of summer. I came to find you!” 

“Aw thanks, buddy! I’m glad Allura got to hang around Diagon Alley and was close to you guys for a bit. It sucks not seeing you all summer, especially when our whole squad lives in the same neighborhood except Allura and me.” 

Hunk was still scanning the crowd and answered distractedly. “Yeah, we all got together a couple times.”

“Still searching for someone, hmm?” Lance teased, raising an eyebrow. 

Hunk, guilty as charged, snapped eyes back to Lance, stammering, “I’m not... There isn’t… Just…” 

“Looking for a certain Shay, hmmm?” Lance’s smirk got bigger. 

“Oh be quiet, man!” Hunk gave him a small shove. “I haven’t seen her yet and I wanted to see if she wanted to join us in our compartment or if she was sitting with her friends or if she was planning on something or if she wanted some of the cookies I made or if…” 

“Okay! Okay! Hunk, bro, I’m just teasing you. Besides, you forget that Shay and I take the same Muggle train here. She already found her roommates and was going to sit with them on the train, but promised she would come to stop by and say hi!” 

“Oh, okay!” Hunk grinned at him. “Let’s head to the compartment then. Did I mention that I made cookies?” 

Lance grinned back, “It was in your ramblings somewhere. I’m always down for your cookies! Man, did I miss your baking!” 

Hunk, who was the epitome of a Hufflepuff, had been sneaking his way into the kitchens since their first year and convincing the house elves to let him bake. Of course, Lance was the one who initiated the ‘sneaking into where they weren’t supposed to be’ part of it, as per usual with their friendship. The two boys had met on the train day one of their first year and became fast friends. Hunk had offered Lance some of his now-traditional train cookies, and the overwhelmed boy had sat down and fallen prey to Hunk’s friendly charm. After all, Lance hadn’t known he had magic or anything about the whole magical world until a month prior! 

His family apparently came from a long line of purebloods and a witch, many years ago, had fallen in love with a Cuban muggle on vacation in England. They ran away together to Cuba because of prejudice and slowly the magic in his lineage had died out, until Lance. The summer he discovered it, Lance had gone to England with his mother to help out his great grandma, Bisabuela, sort through her manor. An altercation with some ancient, magical book and some loud squealing later, his Bisabuela was sitting them down to explain that Lance had magic in him. 

A week later, the owl came with his letter to Hogwarts. A month later, his Bisabuela took him to Diagon Alley and his mom took a plane back home to Cuba. 

Hunk pushed open the door of the compartment, and then Lance had his arms full of Pidge. He automatically caught her, squeezing her tightly and laughing at the joy of seeing his friend again. 

Lance peered over his arm-full of Pidge and met the large grins of Shiro and Allura, who had beat them to the compartment. Matt, perched on the seat next to Shiro with his legs thrown over the armrest, shot him finger guns. Keith was slouching in his seat, a small smile on his broody face and his black hair flopped over his eyes. Red, Keith’s cat, was perched adorably on Keith’s shoulder, as she often did.

Lance slid Pidge around onto his back and picked Blue’s carrier back up. Hunk lifted his trunk onto the shelf while Lance went around hugging all his friends. Except for Keith. He gave Red a pat on the head and then mimicked it with Keith, tousling his hair. 

“I’d say it’s good to see you, buddy, but the mullet ruins it.” 

“It’s not a mullet, idiot,” Keith groused. 

Keith was his fellow Gryffindor in the friend group, and the only other Gryffindor boy in his year, making them roommates without any other mediators. The squad was still confused as to how the pair of boys hadn’t killed each other yet. 

Lance had physically run into Keith on the train platform on day one, tripping over his feet at the overwhelming amount of new things to look at and the fact that he just had to run through a wall. Keith, the reckless little shit he was, didn’t take kindly to being barreled into and had snapped at Lance, telling him to watch himself. Lance, still staggering and annoyed at the boy’s rudeness, had snapped back. Needless to say, when Lance had discovered that the dark-haired broody boy from the platform was his roommate and the younger brother of the gorgeous Shiro, who had helped him navigate the moving staircases, Lance’s competitive nature had emerged. 

Discussions about who was going to win the most points for Gryffindor (Lance was a bit of a suck up to the teachers), who had answered the most questions in class correctly (though Keith was very smart and had read all of Shiro’s old books from the prior year, Lance always beat him to answering), who was better in flying practice (Keith had been on a broom since he was six), or who won the most arguments (Keith was currently winning 864-859 due to his snarky nature) had fueled their rivalry. 

Lance bent down and let Blue out of her carrier. She immediately jumped up onto Keith and put her paws onto his chest, sniffing up at Red. Blue was a friendly cat, who loved everyone and all animals, and loved the heck out of Red, her kitty roommate. Red took almost the whole first year to feel comfortable with Blue, but now they were best kitty buddies, unlike their owners, who had settled into a weird rivalry/friendship. Red hopped off Keith’s shoulder and on to his lap where the two cats twined around each other, bumping heads and curling together on Keith’s lap. 

Lance’s heart melted a little bit at the adorable sight of his two favorite feline girls curled up together. 

Keith was smiling down at them and began to pet Blue. “Hey girl, I missed you.” 

Lance felt a weird emotion swell up in him and turned his attention back to the group. He sat down next to Keith, Pidge still clinging to his back, squishing her against the back of the bench. 

“Don’t squish me, you lanky fuck!” she shouted.

“Hmm, guys. Do you hear something?” Lance smirked. 

Pidge squirmed and jammed her fingers into his side, causing him to let out a small yelp and bump into Keith. 

“I think someone let a small Pidgeon into our compartment!” Lance joked. 

Everyone laughed at his antics and Lance smiled widely. It was so good to be back together. 

Pidge finally squirmed free and crawled her way out, over Lance’s head, and then flopped into the seat next to him, propping her feet on his lap. Her green striped socks were bunched around her ankles, identifying her as the only Slytherin in the group. 

Her brother was childhood best friends and current roommates with Shiro, both in Ravenclaw and a year older than him. Matt was very much the epitome of the house, with his biting wit and brilliant mind, but Shiro was still a bit of an enigma to Lance. He was very smart and creative, always good at keeping their squad from killing each other. Lance recognized the dry snark as a Ravenclaw staple but his friendly leadership reminded him a lot of Hufflepuff. Though, part of the reason why Shiro was such a good leader was because he knew who fits best where. Lance chalked it up to the desire to stick with his best friend. 

Which did not disappoint, because Allura, daughter of Headmaster Alfor, was a Ravenclaw. And Shiro was smitten. It was super hilarious to see Shiro blush under her calculating gaze or his eyes go fuzzy when she laughed. Also, they all played on the Quidditch team together, Allura as the best beater the Ravenclaw team had ever seen, and Shiro and Matt as a powerhouse team of Chasers. Even though they were all fourth years and had only been on the team for a year, they had changed the face of Ravenclaw Quidditch. They had won the Quidditch cup last year for the first time in years, as it typically went to the Gryffindor or Slytherin houses. Allura had become the youngest Quidditch captain this year and Lance was very excited to see how well she lead the team to victory. 

But not too well, because Lance was trying out for the Gryffindor team and really wanted to win. 

Lance leaned over to Keith and taunted him, “So are you ready to get your ass kicked in Quidditch tryouts next week?” 

The whole group groaned and Keith’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t know how I could get my ass kicked since I’ve been flying all summer and you haven’t.” 

Lance felt his heart leap in his throat. Keith was right, he hadn’t been able to fly during the summer, unlike the rest of his pureblood friends who lived in a wizarding neighborhood together. 

“You know I can’t because of where I am, not because of laziness to practice,” Lance snapped back. 

“Of course I know that, idiot. That’s why I said it.” 

“Well, you float by on talent. Some of us have to actually work for it, Mullet.” 

Keith visibly rolled his eyes, an annoyed twitch jumping in his forehead. “You know I’ve been flying for forever, it’s not just because of talent.” 

Shiro chimed in, “You are a very naturally talented flyer though, kiddo. You’re one of the fastest I’ve ever seen. Keith, you beat the seeker from Marmora’s fastest time this summer.” 

Lance gasped and looked at Keith, gaping. Marmora was one of the top professional Quidditch teams right now and was a shoe-in to win the Quidditch Cup this year. Their seeker was one of the fastest, and Keith had beat their flat-flying time?!

Keith just brushed the comment off and grumbled, “Don’t call me kiddo, you sound like a forty-year-old dad.” 

Lance looked around at the rest of the crew, noticing that they weren’t that surprised that Keith had beat it. His heart sunk in his chest. They probably had all been there for that glorious moment. 

“What position are you shooting for?” Allura piped up. 

“Probably seeker,” Keith answered, “but I wouldn’t mind being a chaser.” 

“What?!” Lance shrieked, flailing his arms so much that Pidge protested from her legs almost being launched from his lap. “You can’t be the seeker, I’m going to be the seeker!” 

Keith glared at him, “That’s not your decision to make. Let the Quidditch captain decide after tryouts.” 

“It won’t be a hard decision after he sees me flying circles around your ass!” 

“Boys,” Shiro interrupted, sternly. 

Keith’s eyes narrowed even more, and Lance could tell that he had pissed his roommate off. Great. Not even a day into year three and Keith already hated him.

Lance felt his heart sink further and followed its path, sinking into the bench. He crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to let his bitter disappointment show. 

If Keith was trying out for the Seeker position, Lance didn’t stand a chance. 

Lance never stood a chance when it came to Keith. 

\-------

Keith was ready for tryouts. He wasn’t worried about making the team. He knew he was a good flyer, but he was worried that Lance would get seeker over him. He wasn’t even worried about not getting the position he wanted, he was just dreading the inevitable gloating it would entail.

Lance shifted next to him and Keith shot a glance at him. He looked nervous and Keith realized that maybe he didn’t have to be as worried about that as he thought. Part of him felt bad. Lance had had such a hard time learning how to ride a broom two years ago, enough trouble that he had to get extra training. The thing about Lance though, was that he took that extra training and he ran with it. He worked harder at it than anyone else in class and he ended up being one of the best in their year, which was the case with a lot of things. 

He didn’t have his own broom though and Keith knew enough about his family history to know he couldn’t exactly borrow a family member’s to practice flying over the summer. There wasn’t enough time between when school started and the tryouts to give him a chance to get used to being on a broom again. Today was gonna be rough for him.

Lance noticed him staring and quickly straightened up, glaring at him for good measure and Keith rolled his eyes. Sure, part of him felt bad. The other part was still mad about what he’d said on the train… and every day since then any time Quidditch was brought up.

It wasn’t his fault flying came easy to him, but that certainly didn’t mean he didn’t put effort into it either.

“Alright, guys. First of all, thanks for coming to try out for the team,” the captain- Jennings- clapped to get their attention. “Sadly you won’t all get a spot, but if you don’t make it this year, keep working hard and try again next year, yeah?”

There was murmuring and shifting which Jennings took as assent. “Great. We’re gonna start off easy with some quick flying drills so get on your brooms and I’ll meet you guys up there.” He turned after that and knelt in front of a chest but Keith didn’t wait to see what he was doing.

He was one of the first ones in the air, along with a few older students, but Lance was right behind him.

“You good?” he asked, because yeah, he was mad, but he wasn’t heartless.

Lance wobbled for a moment and adjusted his grip. “Peachy.” He flashed Keith a smile that was at least seventy percent bravado and shifted his weight, drifting to hover in front of Keith to look him in the eye. “Just give me a minute to adjust and then you’ll be eating my dust, Mullet.”

“Sure I will. Better start with the adjusting then; minute’s almost up.”

Lance scoffed but then his face shifted to alarm. 

Keith registered the look a split second before he heard the noise coming up from behind him and he moved on instinct, rolling his weight to the side and letting gravity do the rest of the work so he hung upside down from his broom like a sloth. He looked up just in time to see the bludger sail through the air where he had just been and straight for Lance who threw himself out of the way and went spinning wildly for a moment before he regained control of his broom.

As he pulled himself back upright Keith heard other players yelling and scrambling to get out of the way.

“Oh did I say easy flying drills?” Jennings’ voice was, quite frankly, alarmingly amused. “I meant agility testing. First test? Don’t get hit.”

Keith gulped and shot a look to Lance who looked equally worried.

“Don’t get- that thing nearly took my head off!” someone behind Keith yelled.

“If it’s close enough to hit you then it’s close enough to catch or dodge.”

Oh boy. This was gonna be rough.

\-----

Two days later Keith was still sore. Lance knew this because he asked. Well… He didn’t ask so much as he did complain about how sore he was and Keith agreed.

It made him feel a little better knowing that he wasn’t the only one who had a rough time of it. 

Lance groaned and gave himself a pep talk as he headed back to the Gryffindor dorms. “Come on legs. You can do it. It’s just a few stairs. We got this.” He was just grateful the hallways weren’t crowded, otherwise this would be murder. 

He could have kicked himself for forgetting his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook on his nightstand. He was missing out on the beginning of lunch- valuable time he could be using to sit down and not have to move- to run back and get it.

He almost cried with despair when he reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to his room and then he almost cried again with relief when he had his book and began descending. “Going downhill is always so much easier than going uphill.”

He reached the common room and saw Jennings pinning a piece of parchment to the board. 

“Lance!” He cried. He seemed happy but he had also seemed happy when he gave Lance a bat and told him to go ‘do what beaters do best,’ so the open smile did nothing to put him at ease. “Congratulations! Great work on the Pitch! See you Saturday!” With that, Jennings clapped him very firmly- and very painfully- on the shoulder and went upstairs.

Lance stood in shock for a moment, staring in front of him and absently rubbing his shoulder, before he blinked and surged into action.

He said ‘see you Saturday’ so that had to mean- “I’m on the team?!”

Lance scanned the list quickly, searching for his name, hope blooming in his chest-

And plummeting.

He found his name. He also found Keith’s name; right next to ‘Seeker.’ Lance’s name was much further down the list- the last one on it actually- next to ‘Chaser.’

He took a step back, arms falling limply to his sides and textbook thudding dully onto the floor. “Oh.” He tried not to feel disappointed- he really did- but the lump in his throat was too huge to breathe around and all he could think of was the fact that Keith beat him again. 

He lost.

A door upstairs slammed shut- probably Jennings trading lunch for sleep- and Lance startled out of his daze. This wasn’t the time or the place for crying. He picked up his book and ran out of the room, earlier exhaustion forgotten.

Lance wasn’t going to cry over this, he wasn’t! He was not going to-

“Lance?”

It was Hunk’s voice and Lance stopped in the middle of a staircase to see his friend waiting for him at the bottom.

“What are you doing all the way up here, Hunk?” Lance asked, trying to sound casual, normal.

“You were taking a while so I was coming to get you. Are you okay, Buddy? You look pretty shook up.”

“Yeah, I’m fine I-” Lance had to pause and catch his breath for a moment, but as soon as he stopped he wished he hadn’t. The words suddenly seemed much harder to get out. “I just-... Jennings just posted the roster.” 

Hunk’s face shifted into one of sympathy, so open and ready to comfort him and Lance felt his insides churning as he watched Hunk misunderstand why he was upset.

“Oh, Lance, I’m so sorry. I know how much you wanted to make it-”

“That’s not it!” Lance cut him off. “I made the team, I just-”

The confusion on Hunk’s face would have been funny if Lance didn’t suddenly feel the ground shifting under him. The staircase started grinding into movement, jarring Lance badly enough to fall flat on his butt. He looked up in time to see Hunk make the split-second decision to step onto the stairs before they moved too far away and all Lance could manage was a weak “We’re so going to miss lunch.”

“Is your butt okay?” Hunk asked, coming to sit next to him on the stairs, nothing more to do until they found out where they were going.

“It’s fine.”

“Are you okay?”

Lance was quiet for a moment and Hunk patiently waited.

“It’s stupid,” he said eventually, voice wobbling in a way that he hated because it was a dead giveaway that he wanted to cry.

“It’s not stupid if it’s making you this upset.”

“You’re only saying that ‘cause you don’t know what it is.”

“Then tell me what it is.”

Lance sighed and ran a hand through his hair, leaning his elbows on his knees. “I made the team as a chaser.”

“And let me guess-”

“Keith got seeker,” Lance nodded. “He’s gonna be so smug when he finds out. He’s gonna look down on me- say he’s better.”

“No, he won’t.”

“He’ll think it!”

“You know that’s not true, Lance.”

Lance kept quiet because he did know but he was too upset to admit it.

“Keith would never think that of you.”

Hunk was right. Keith had never been that way, never given a hint of thinking that way. Quite the opposite actually.

The first time someone tried to insinuate that, back when they were first years, was the first time Lance felt like his roommate didn’t actually hate him.

Lotor, older by one year and Slytherin through and through, had accosted them at dinner, seeming to take Lance’s complaining about how hard flying a broom was as an invitation to open his big mouth.

“Well, it’s no surprise you’re having trouble, considering what bloodline you’re from.”

Lance had been warned about the prejudice over blood in the wizarding world, but that was the first time he encountered it. He felt ice settle in his veins and he couldn’t help how weak his voice sounded when he spoke. “What?”

“What do you mean ‘What?’ You’re wasting your time comparing yourself to him. Next to someone like Keith, who is clearly a natural, a boy from a bloodline that’s had no magic in their blood for centuries is never going to measure up. Of course you’re having trouble-”

“Take that back!” Lance had felt too sick to defend himself but Keith evidently didn’t have the same problem, and he was having none of it. In fact, he was livid, if how hard he was bending his spoon was anything to go by. “My blood’s not any better than his and neither is yours so take it back! And while you’re at it take the rest of your antiquated prejudices and shove them up your ass!”

Lotor had looked irritated but not angry when he left. Not that Lance noticed. He was too busy staring at Keith.

“What?” Keith snapped, more defensive than mad.

“‘Antiquated prejudices?’ Awfully big words there, Keith.” It wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He’d meant to say ‘thank you’ but he’d blanked when Keith’s eyes landed on him.

“Shut up.”

Lance, for once, stopped talking, but he did bump their shoulders together and leave Keith the last cupcake.

The staircase stopped moving, quite literally jarring Lance out of his thoughts and he breathed deeply and ran a hand through his hair again.

“You’re right, Hunk. I don’t know why I was worried about that.” He stood up and stretched his arms out. “I just get so competitive sometimes and it makes my mind go in circles.”

“No problem, Buddy.” Hunk stood up next to him and patted him on the back. “I’m free if you ever need to talk about it or anything else.”

“Thanks, man. Think we’ve still got time to make it to lunch?”

“If we hurry. You still too sore to run?”

“Ugh. Yes, but I’ll do it anyway. Food is worth it.”

Hunk laughed and then took off down the stairs, leaving Lance to scramble after him, complaining about his aching muscles the whole way back to the great hall.

He sat down across from Keith and basked in the act of not moving for all of two seconds before Keith spoke.

“That took you a while. Have trouble finding it in all your mess?”

“Ha. Ha.” Lance held his book up and waved it in the air for emphasis. “It was right where I left it. And my mess isn’t nearly as bad as yours.”

“If you say so.”

“Jennings posted the roster. I had to stop to see who made it.”

“Oh.” Keith looked up at him and shifted in his seat. 

Lance inwardly snorted. He so obviously wanted to ask but he clearly wasn’t going to. Lance almost wanted to make him wait, force him to ask and show how badly he wanted to know, but he also really didn’t want to spend too much time talking about it. “You got seeker,” he said evenly, offhandedly, like it didn’t bother him. 

A tiny smile flickered across Keith’s face but he stifled it pretty fast. “Cool. Did you…?”

“I’m a chaser.”

The tiny smile was back briefly, there and gone like a candle wick sputtering in the wind. “Cool.”

Lance snorted and looked down, hiding whatever face he was making by engrossing himself in his food. “Yeah.”

\-----

Keith had been expecting Lance to be upset when he said Keith got seeker. He was expecting posturing and outrage and he was expecting Lance to be really and truly mad at him. So he was pleasantly surprised when Lance calmly said he was a chaser and then dropped it. He was elated actually.

That had faded pretty fast though. It was Saturday afternoon and Lance had slept on the couch in the common room every night since the roster was posted, which wouldn’t really matter if Keith didn’t know that Lance only did that when he was mad at him.

On top of that, he’d been a downright prick at practice that morning, getting in Keith’s way and making stupid competitions out of nothing. It was a wonder Jennings didn’t call him out on it and give him a lecture or make him fend off bludgers all morning.

So Keith was hunting right now, looking for his wayward roommate, who’d been doing a damn good job of avoiding him since Wednesday, and an even better job of pissing him off whenever they did see each other.

He found him by the Great Lake, skipping stones and- a tentacle rose from the water and dumped several rocks at Lance’s feet- apparently playing fetch with the giant squid. Of course he was.

“Lance!” He called when he was close enough.

Lance startled and accidentally threw the rock he was holding into the water with a graceless plop. He looked over his shoulder and saw Keith, his expression falling into annoyance. “What do you want?” He stooped to pick up another rock, turning it over to check that it was smooth enough.

“We need to talk.”

“About?” Lance threw the rock and watched as it skipped away into the distance.

“Why you’re mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you.” Lance picked up another rock and got ready to throw it.

“Cut the crap, Lance! that’s a lie and we both know it.”

“I’m not mad at you!” Lance yelled. After a beat, he sighed and dropped his arm. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just… mad.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“What do you mean, ‘what does that mean?!’ It means I am mad but not at you!”

“So why are you mad then?!”

“I don’t-” Lance cut himself off and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s my problem, not yours.” He turned and skipped his rock into the lake.

“It is too my problem!” 

Lance didn’t say anything back, didn’t even react, so Keith kept going.

“Look. I don’t like you very much and you don’t like me very much. The last two years that’s been fine but it’s different now. We’re on the same team. We have to get along. If we’re always hung up on hating each other then we’ll never do well in matches. So whatever it is you’re upset about- that clearly involves me on some level- either get over it or tell me so we can try to work it out.”

Lance was quiet for a moment and Keith had to tell himself not to get hung up on the fact that he didn’t correct him when he said they hated each other.

“I’m just mad that I keep not being good enough,” he said eventually.

Keith blinked. “What?”

“Everyone’s always so much better at this stuff than I am. It gets frustrating after a while.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Thank you for making me spill my insecurities and then making fun of them, Keith. This has been a really good talk.” 

Keith blanched and backpedaled. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean that’s wrong and it’s kind of stupid that you can’t see there’s lots of stuff you’re good at.”

Lance snorted and skipped another rock. “That’s not a whole lot better.”

“I can’t do that!” Keith blurted, pointing out at the fading ripples on the lake. “I can’t skip rocks!”

Lance looked at him, then at the lake, then back at him. “O...kay?”

“And you’re a hell of a lot better than me in divinations!”

“We’ve been in class two weeks. It’s not hard.”

“And yet you’re the top of the class by a mile! I can’t make sense of anything in there!”

“Well yeah but that’s cause you don’t pay attention.”

“I can’t pay attention! It doesn’t work inside my brain! And you kick my ass in potions! I can never manage to get the timings right.”

“That’s cause you’re impatient-”

“Shut up! Stop doing that! See? This is why you feel like everyone’s always better than you! You allow everyone else to have faults and make excuses but you can’t do that for yourself? Stop focusing on the things someone else does better and think about the things that you excel at! Do you know why Jennings put you on the team?”

Lance hesitantly shook his head, eyes wide.

“It’s because you made the most improvement from the beginning of tryouts to the end! When everyone else started getting tired and sloppy you got better! You work harder than most of the people in this school and you’re always using that against me! You study your ass off to keep even with the best so stop thinking that having to do that is a handicap and be fucking proud of it! You’re still at the top! You’re still on the team! How you got there doesn’t matter!”

Lance stared at him for a long moment, shocked and speechless, mouth opening and closing around words that weren’t coming. “Oh.”

“Are we good now?” Keith asked, exasperated and tired of yelling, but dammit he couldn’t stop himself.

“Yeah…” Lance nodded. “We’re good.”

“Good.”

They stood there for a moment, awkwardly avoiding looking at each other until Lance spoke.

“You know… When you said we get hung up hating each other…”

Keith held his breath, not sure if Lance was going to say he was right or disagree with him, not sure which option he wanted more.

“I-”

“Incoming!” Pidge screamed, half a second before she launched herself onto Keith’s back, almost sending them both tumbling into the lake.

“Pidge!” he yelled, struggling to get his balance righted to avoid getting soaked. “Get off, you gremlin!”

It was at that moment that a giant tentacle rose from the lake and smacked back down onto the water, spraying them all and soaking them through.

They stood there, blinking in a stupor, and Lance laughed.

“I guess he wants more rocks to chase.”

With Pidge wrapped around Keith, with him trying to continue to be affronted that Pidge almost sent them careening into the lake and complaining about being wet, Lance couldn’t help but think about the beginning of their second year. 

Hunk had found Lance on the platform, a small girl in tow.

“I’m Katie,” she had said, “But call me Pidge instead, or I’ll punch your kneecaps.”

Lance had swept her up in a hug, saying that she was adorable and that he had heard all about her and that they would be the best of friends. Pidge was thrown off by the blatant display of affection but chalked it up to him being Hunk’s best friend, patted his head awkwardly, and started asking rapid-fire questions about what it was like to live in the Muggle world. Lance, excited to please, answered them just as fast.

In the middle of Lance telling Pidge about how Netflix works, her head perked up and she took off running across the platform. Lance turned to Hunk, who shrugged in confusion, and then watched as his grumpy roommate emerged from the crowd. Keith saw Pidge tearing at him and set down his luggage just in time for Pidge to jump on top of him. Keith caught her like this was a normal occurrence. Lance’s jaw almost dropped open at the small, fond smile Keith gave her and how his arms tightened around the tiny girl.

Lance didn’t know that Keith could be friendly and cute and soft and floofy and huggable. It was weird and made his heart melt in a weird way.

He watched as Keith laughed out loud and Pidge clambered around to his back, clinging on by herself as Keith bent over to retrieve his luggage. They made their way back to where Hunk and Lance were standing, and Lance’s heart melted even more to see Keith turn that smile on them.

He didn’t think that Keith had ever smiled at him largely like this, not the smirk or amused little smile. This was a “you’re my friend and I missed you over summer and it’s so good to see you again” smile.

Sure, they had a friendly rivalry still going into their third year, but how could Keith think that Lance didn’t like him or that they weren’t friends?

\-----

“Well, I was going to say that we were all gonna go try to find the Room of Requirement and take a nap, but now that we’re soaked we might have to delay that a bit while we get changed into dry robes.”

“Robes? It’s Saturday, Pidge. I am changing into nothing but pajamas, and I am doing nothing but napping on those glorious bean bags for the rest of the afternoon,” Lance declared, turning to the castle with a dramatic flourish that was ruined by the squelching sound his sneakers made.

“If there are bean bags,” Keith interjected, adjusting his grip on Pidge’s legs so he’d be able to walk next to Lance without risk of her sliding off his back. He couldn’t help antagonizing him a little; the scandalized face he made was so worth it.

“Don’t even joke about that,” he hissed.

“Remember last year when Hunk said he wished there was a kitchen and then the next time we found it all of the bean bags were upstairs and we didn’t notice the staircase until after you freaked out?”

“You mean you guys didn’t notice the staircase,” Pidge corrected, but her voice was almost drowned out by Lance.

“He sacrificed the comfiest bean bags in the history of ever in exchange for hot leaf juice! I was rightfully alarmed!”

“Hunk makes really good hot leaf juice though. You can’t deny that it’s nice to have a kitchen area downstairs,” Pidge argued.

“The kitchen is nice. I mean, a game room would have been nicer, but the kitchen is cool.”

“Board game or video game?”

Lance shrugged. “Either. Both? Both. I would totally own Keith’s ass at Mario Kart.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I highly doubt that.”

“Shut it, Keith.”

“I would pay actual money to see that,” Pidge grinned.

“Whatever,” Keith rolled his eyes. He stopped at the mouth of a hallway and dropped his hands from under Pidge’s legs. “Off. I want to go get dry clothes and this is your stop.”

“‘Her stop?’ What are you- public transportation?” Lance teased.

Keith shot him a glare but the effect was ruined when Pidge squished his cheeks patronizingly. “Don’t sell him short like that. He’s more like a personal chauffeur.”

“Off!” Keith shook from side to side until Pidge, cackling loudly, slid off his back.

“See you guys in a bit. Don’t hog all the beanbags, Lance,” she said pointedly.

“First come, first serve, Pidgeon!” He took off, running up the nearest flight of stairs that would lead to the Gryffindor dorms, intent on getting into dry clothes and to the room of requirement first. “It’s sleep on a beanbag or become a beanbag on this bi-”

“It’s really not!” Pidge cut him off, yelling up the stairs after him. 

“If you want a bean bag you should stop yelling at him and start running,” Keith rushed out, already racing up the stairs after Lance. He caught up right as Lance had to stop to tell the portrait the password to get into the dorms and then they were running again, tearing into the common room.

“Weren’t you guys exhausted, like, two hours ago?” Jennings asked, taking in their breathless and frazzled- and dripping- appearances. 

“I was but I literally cannot contain my excitement for this nap. Come on Keith, there’s no time to lose!” Lance said, barely pausing long enough to answer the question before running up the stairs.

Jennings’ eyebrows shot up towards his hairline and he looked to Keith who felt blood rush to his face.

“I’m- He’s-... We’re not… It’s not like-”

“Keith! The warm embrace of sleep is calling!” Lance yelled down the stairs, for once missing a situation awkward enough that even Keith could pick up on it.

“I don’t need to know,” Jennings said, not unkindly. 

“But-”

“Keith. Whatever it is, It’s fine. As long as you don’t cost Gryffindor points then I’m okay with it.”

“O-oh,” Keith said. Part of him felt like trying to explain again but a bigger part of him felt like if he opened his mouth to do so, he would just end up digging a deeper grave for himself. “Okay.”

Lance was already in a pair of his favorite pajama pants when Keith walked into their dorm and was in the process of looking for a shirt. 

“Thanks for abandoning me down there!”

“What? It was just Jennings. What happened?”

“‘Just Jennings,’” Keith mimicked. “He thinks we’re-” he fumbled for words and gestured awkwardly between them- “Napping.”

Lance raised one eyebrow and shrugged a shirt over his head. “We are.”

“No not like that, I mean… together.”

“Oh,” Lance said, and then he paused. “Oh.” 

“Yeah.”

“Well… did he have a problem with it?”

“No. Not really.”

“Did you have a problem with it?”

“I mean… kind of? We’re not… we’re not like that. We’re not that close.”

If he had been looking, Keith would have noticed the flash of hurt that crossed Lance’s face, but he was actively avoiding eye contact by digging through his trunk in search of a pair of sweatpants, so he completely missed it.

“Right. Um… sorry I guess?”

Keith shrugged. “It’s fine. You’re in charge of explaining things to him if he ever brings it up again though. I don’t think I’ll be able to look him in the eye for a week.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Okay, drama queen.”

The search for the Room of Requirement was surprisingly smooth, the only notable thing being Jennings’ curious stare as he watched them hurry back through the common room in pajamas, which Keith ignored. He was grateful for the lack of trouble. Sometimes half the fun of hanging out in the Room of Requirement was trying to track it down, but after the long week he had, he just wanted to have some downtime with everyone.

“Lance!” Matt said as soon as they both walked through the door. “Tell them that this is a TV! Shiro refuses to believe me!”

“Maybe that’s because you have a history of tricking me when explaining muggle things!”

“Who on Earth would actually believe that WiFi was a way to sell yourself as a bride?! I was making a joke, not trying to-”

“Okay!” Lance interrupted, an amused smile clear on his face. “Rather than pursuing that truly intriguing story- which I will be asking for full details about later- I’m going to ask a more obvious question and settle this dispute in one go. That is a TV, but what’s it doing here?”

“Thank you!” Matt exclaimed. “And I have no idea. It was just sitting there when I came in.”

“Does it work?”

Matt looked sheepish. “I uh… actually didn’t check.”

Lance put a shocked hand to his chest. “Are you sure you’re a Ravenclaw? What do you mean you didn’t check?”

“In my defense, Shiro showed up barely a minute after I did, and Allura wasn’t far behind and… Well, I figured I might as well wait for a demonstration from an expert.”

Lance stared at him blankly for a moment and Keith elbowed him none too gently in the ribs before the silence could turn awkward. “That’s you, idiot.”

“What? Since when am I an- Oh.”

Keith could see the realization dawning on his face in an almost comical way.

“Yeah, I guess I would be the resident expert on this kind of thing, huh?”

There was something in the way he said it that had Keith really hoping that Lance was thinking of this as a thing he excelled at, and not something that he was only asked about because he was the only one of their friends who would know.

Lance’s face gave nothing away to clear that debate up, but he crossed the room quickly and confidently, whatever it was he was thinking.

“It might not work, just so you’re all prepared for possible disappointment. I’m not sure how it would, given the serious lack of electrical outlets all over the castle.” He picked up a small rectangular box and Keith barely had enough time to wonder what it was before Matt spoke excitedly.

“That’s a remote, right?”

“Yep,” Lance grinned. “To turn it on you press this button-” he turned the ‘remote’ to Matt and tapped on said button, before pointing it back at the TV and pressing it in earnest. “-And voila!”

The TV lit up a blinding white for a moment before settling into a bluish-black with the words ‘Select input’ boldly displayed in the middle.

“Oh my gosh it works,” Lance said quietly, clearly dumbfounded despite how triumphant he’d sounded a second ago.

“What does ‘select-’” Shiro started before getting cut off by the sound of the door slamming open.

“Tell me I made it here before- Is that a TV?!” Pidge yelled, Hunk striding in behind her with an equally intrigued face.

“You didn’t, and yes,” Lance said smugly, but Pidge was already rushing towards him, all previous competitive intentions forgotten. 

“And it’s working?!” She grabbed for the remote, which Lance surrendered to her easily.

“Yep. Just gotta figure out if- Holy shit is that a Wii?!” Lance scrambled over to the shelves the TV was sitting on and inspected a box-shaped object. “It is! Pidge gimme the remote I’m gonna set it up!”

“What? No! I wanna do it!”

“Do you know how?”

Pidge didn’t even blink. “No, but you’re going to teach me.”

“Can I teach you after I find out if this thing has Mario Kart so I can kick Keith’s a-” Lance sent a cautious look at Shiro who raised an eyebrow challengingly, “aaaabsolutely terrible mullet into next week.”

Shiro rolled his eyes and Hunk stifled a laugh.

“Seriously?” Keith asked. “One: that was weak, even for you. Two: I can kick your ass at anything.” 

“Language, Keith!” 

“Three,” Keith went on, ignoring Shiro. “I don’t even want to play? I want to take a nap.”

“Naps! I forgot about the nap.” 

“Oh my gosh, it’s the apocalypse,” Hunk said.

Lance shot him a look before turning back to Keith. “One round? And then naps?”

“It’d take me one round to actually figure out what the game even is. Play against Pidge.”

“Yes! Play against Pidge!” Pidge grinned.

“You cheat!” Lance said.

“You don’t know that!”

“You do, though,” Matt said.

“See!” Lance shouted. “You cheat at everything!” 

“If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying,” Pidge smirked. 

“I don’t think that’s actually true,” Hunk shot her down firmly.

“What?! Who’s side are you on, Hunk?!”

Keith took the opportunity to sneak off to take his nap. He trudged up the stairs and practically threw himself onto the closest bean bag chair, instantly savoring the feeling of his muscles relaxing with the sensation of going boneless. Quidditch had really taken it out of him and he hoped he’d get over the exhaustion before their next practice, or he’d never survive. 

“Did you just fucking blue shell me?!” Pidge’s voice drifted up from the lounge area below.

“Pidge!” Shiro admonished.

“Anything is fair game in Mario Kart, Pidge!” Lance yelled, a triumphant laugh punctuating his words.

The laughter cut off with a loud yell and a muffled thump.

“You can’t just push me off the couch in the middle of a match!” Lance cried.

“Anything is fair game in Mario Kart, Lance!” Pidge mimicked. 

Keith couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out of him. He listened to their bickering for a little while longer and he supposed that maybe he was also exhausted for a few other reasons. Spending a whole week worrying about his roommate probably didn’t do him any favors, but things seemed like they were on the mend. He just hoped Lance was actually done being upset now. 

He just hoped that talking had actually helped him.

Laughter floated up to him and Keith drifted off before he could register whose it was.

He woke up later to the quiet sounds of Shiro and Matt talking downstairs.

“So to switch characters you press this button,” Matt was explaining softly.

Keith lifted his head and looked around, noting that Hunk and Allura were asleep, cuddled into their own bean bag chairs a few feet away, which would explain why Shiro and Matt were being so quiet. He looked down and saw that Pidge was using his stomach as a pillow and out cold, which was probably what woke him up. He followed the haphazard sprawl of her limbs to see Lance a few feet away, supporting her feet in his lap, but probably completely unaware of the fact.

He looked just as exhausted as Keith felt, and he wondered if the week had been as hard for Lance as it was for him.

It probably was.

It might have been worse.

He probably spent the whole week thinking about what he’d finally said at the lake earlier, letting it chip away at him. He probably didn’t sleep well either. The couch in the common room was okay to sit on, even okay to nap on. Sleeping on it for three nights? Not good.

But here Lance was, asleep in the same room as Keith- less than five feet from him- and Keith knew that things were going to be okay now.

He let his head fall back onto his bean bag and sat for a moment, listening to the individual breathing patterns of his friends around him. It was calming now, but it had taken him forever to get used to it.

He remembered the first time they found the Room of Requirement, though he didn’t really remember what they’d been doing beforehand. They were just walking when Matt spoke up.

“Has this room always been here?”

“I dunno,” Hunk said. “What’s in it?” 

Matt pushed open the door and peered inside. “It… looks like a bunch of bean bag chairs.” He’d looked at Lance for confirmation then, even as a second year willing to admit that Lance obviously knew more than him about muggle things.

Lance stuck his head through the door and nodded. “Heckin’ sweet, I am so tired right now. We’ve got a couple hours before dinner, right?”

Everyone had followed him in, even before Shiro said they had time to investigate the new room.

Matt ran over to the pile of bean bag chairs and threw himself onto one, laughing happily and kicking his feet in the air a bit. “Pidge is gonna be so jealous when I tell her about this.”

Keith followed his example, albeit a little more cautiously, and sat down on one, surprised at how he sunk into it.

“Oh! I know this room,’ Allura gasped. ‘It’s the Room of Requirement! Father says-”

Keith would have paid more attention if Lance hadn’t been settling into the bean bag chair next to his.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked. He hadn’t meant for it to come out sounding so accusing but it was too late to take it back.

“Uh… Napping?” Lance said like it was obvious.

“Right here?”

“That’s literally the only reason I came into this room, my man.”

“No, I mean… right next to me? Isn’t that weird?”

“We sleep in the same room every night. Why would a different location suddenly make it weird?”

Keith opened his mouth to argue but found that he couldn’t.

It was sound logic.

Eventually, everyone settled into a bean bag and fell asleep. It set Keith on edge.

The idea of falling asleep around so many people that he didn’t know very well, with the exception of Shiro, was… alarming.

There was too much noise, too much movement. He could hear fabric rustling when someone moved- could hear everyone breathing.

Eventually, he decided to just pick a noise and focus on it and nothing else. A few moments later he was surprised to realize he’d picked Lance’s breathing pattern. Then he was surprised to realize he could tell that it was Lance’s.

Looking back, he shouldn’t have been surprised. It was several weeks into school and he’d fallen asleep to the sound of Lance’s breathing every night for months. It was no wonder that hearing it and focusing on it helped him calm down enough to fall asleep.

Keith closed his eyes and focused on Lance’s breathing now, steady and deep and there- close.

In the same room.

Things were going to be okay.

They were going to be okay.

Keith heaved a sigh and went back to sleep.

\-----

“Honeydukes is the best!” Matt said earnestly. “But if you want tea, and you will want tea when it gets colder, Madam Puddifoot’s is where you go.”

“Good to know,” Hunk nodded. “What’s the best place for food?”

“Hunk, Bud, we’ll end up trying everything eventually.” Lance put an arm around his shoulder. “Isn’t it more fun to decide these things on your own?” 

Their first outing to Hogsmeade was scheduled to leave in just under half an hour and Lance and Hunk (and Keith no matter how much he tried to hide it) had been brimming with excitement all week. They were passing the time waiting in the courtyard while all the other students going filtered in to wait too. He looked around, craning his neck to check for Shiro, Allura, and Keith but there was no sign of them yet.

“Oh definitely, but I’d like to get an idea of what to expect first. Research.”

Matt grabbed Hunk’s hands and held them up between them. “How are you not a Ravenclaw?” Lance could see the stars in his eyes.

Hunk shrugged and gave an easy smile, used to getting that question from various people. “Dunno, man. Guess I just belong in Hufflepuff.”

“We can’t even say he pulled a Shiro and is only there because the pretty girl he likes is in that house. Hunk got sorted before Shay,” Lance grinned, eager to tease both his friends in one go.

“Sssshhhh!!!” Hunk tore his hands from Matt’s grasp and covered Lance’s mouth, wildly looking around. “She could hear you!”

“Hey, Shiro’s not in Ravenclaw because of Allura!” Matt sounded offended and for a moment Lance worried he’d overstepped. “We all know it’s because of me.”

Lance licked Hunk’s hand and grinned when he yelled and yanked it away. “You’re right, my bad.”

“Lance! That’s disgusting!”

“Not even sorry, man!” He laughed and looked around for the rest of their group again. He didn’t see them, but he did spot Jennings staring at him. When they made eye contact he tilted his head in a ‘come here’ motion and Lance nodded. “Be right back guys. Jennings wants to talk to me real quick.”

“He’s probably gonna threaten to kick you off the team for being gross!” Hunk cried.

“Yeah, yeah. You can wipe my saliva off on Keith’s face when he gets here. Maybe it would make his skin softer.” He crossed the courtyard to Jennings, ignoring Hunk muttering ‘that doesn’t make any sense’ behind him. “What’s up, Cap?”

Jennings shifted his weight and looked, for the first time that Lance had ever seen, uncomfortable. “Lance.”

“You okay?” Lance was beginning to wonder if maybe this was the first time in Jennings’ life that he’d even felt uncomfortable.

“I’m fine it’s just… I realized I may not have handled that… situation… with you and Keith last week as well as I should have.”

“Situation? We’ve been doing fine at practice though! What situation?”

Jennings shook his head. “Not… at practice. In the dorms.”

“Is this about me sleeping on the couch?”

“No! Well… It might be. Is it? Why were you sleeping on the couch?”

“Because Ke-” Lance sighed. “Never mind. It’s not about the couch. What are you trying to get at here?”

“Well, I realized I might have come off as… judgmental. I just want you guys to know that whatever you do is your business and-”

“Wait, is this about when we were napping?”

Jennings twisted his lips up like he was trying to think of what to say. “Y...eees. It’s your business what you do and who you do it with but as your captain, I feel like I should tell you that you’re kind of young to be…”

“Napping?”

“With other people. I mean- on your own it’s- well it’s normal but just- maybe don’t- uh you should- wait? Til you’re older?”

“So… Napping alone is fine… and napping with someone else is also fine… as long as I wait a few years?”

Jennings nodded. “Yes. Exactly.”

“O...Kay… Is that it?”

“Yep. That’s it. Don’t have any more to say on that matter.”

“Okay… Well, then I’m gonna go back to my friends now if that’s-”

“Are you guys okay now? I know you were… going through a rough patch…”

“Me and Keith?”

Jennings nodded.

“Yeah. We’re good.”

“Good.”

Lance nodded and turned to go back to his friends.

“Hey, Lance?” Jennings called.

“Yeah?” 

“I just… I want you to know that it’s okay. You and Keith. I’ll support you guys and so will the team. So if you ever need to talk or you have problems or if someone says anything-”

Suddenly the gravity of the conversation he just had slammed into Lance like getting stuck on the wrong side of the whomping willow tree. He felt his whole body go icy for a moment as he realized exactly what Jennings had really been meaning to say and what Lance had actually said back. “Oh my gosh!” He yelled. “Uh- thank you for that Jennings. That’s uh- that’s good to- good to know! I will uh- I really- appreciate? The support. Uh… I- I gotta go now, bye!” 

Lance ran. He ran as fast as he could without breaking a sweat and tried not to outwardly panic too much.

Oh man. This was why Keith was so flustered when he made it upstairs. This was why Keith was bothered. 

This was why Keith had said they weren’t that close.

Lance had been so hurt over that because he thought-

He felt so dumb! He wanted to crawl under a rock and never have to look Jennings in the eye again. He wanted to never look Keith in the eye again either! Had he noticed Lance looking upset? Did he think he was-? Oh gosh, what if Keith thought he liked him? Like… Like liked him?! What if the whole team thought they were dating?! Keith would never forgive him!

“Hey Lance,” Hunk’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “You okay? You look kinda pale.”

“What were you and Jennings talking about?” Keith asked and Lance noticed, with a kind of horrified surprise, that Keith and Shiro had joined their group.

“I fucked up,” Lance said quietly, staring at but not really seeing Keith.

“What?”

Shiro laughed loudly at something Matt said and Lance blinked, jarred into some semblance of normalcy. He shook his head. “I fucked up,” he said again, more clearly. “Jennings was- he was saying-”

“And I was like ‘hold the fuck up!’ So then Pidge goes-”

Keith put his hands on either side of Lance’s face and pulled his focus away from Matt again.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m holding the fuck up.”

It took all of a second for Lance to process what Keith said and when he did, he quickly disguised the hurt he felt flashing across his face with anger. “I said ‘I fucked up’ Keith, not ‘I’m a fuck up!’” he yelled, shoving Keith away from him with as much force as he could manage.

Keith stumbled back, looking shocked for an instant before anger took over his features as well. “Yeah?” he took a step into Lance’s personal space and Lance did his best not to step away. “What’s the difference?” Keith shoved him back. Hard.

 

Maybe Lance could have recovered from the physical blow if he weren’t so busy reeling from the verbal one. ‘What’s the difference?’ Really? Lance had thought they were finally making headway. He had bared his insecurities to Keith- all of his fears- and here Keith was saying-

Lance felt himself going down and tried to recover his balance but the thing he grabbed onto to steady himself was Keith’s shirt. They both landed in a harsh tangle of limbs, the air knocked from their lungs with the force of their fall.

Keith’s elbow was digging into Lance’s ribs and he rolled them over to get up. He needed air. He needed air and space and to not be around Keith. He needed-

Keith apparently took exception to getting flipped because he swung an arm up to shove Lance off of him. His fist collided with Lance’s face, right on his cheekbone just under his eye, and the momentum sent him sprawling back into the dirt. He bit his lip when he landed, and the feeling of blood pouring into his mouth only served to fuel his anger.

“You fucker!” Lance lunged for Keith but a set of hands grabbed him under the arms and yanked him up and away.

“Lance!” Hunk yelled at the same moment that Professor Coran came running over.

“Boys!”

Shiro hauled Keith up and kept a firm restraining hand on his shoulder.

“What on Earth is the problem here?!” Coran yelled.

“He started it!” Keith snarled.

“Fuck you!”

“Ten points from Gryffindor!” Coran bellowed. “Each!”

Lance shot wide eyes over to him and was met with a hard stare.

“I will take more if you two don’t get a hold of yourselves this instant. I cannot believe you’d behave like this!”

Lance looked down, feeling heat rush his face. It took a lot to disappoint Coran.

“Neither of you will be going to Hogsmeade today. You will spend your time in detention polishing everything in my classroom that can be polished, and when I get back we will be having some long conversations in my office, is that clear?”

Lance nodded and Keith must have too because Coran sighed and fixed his robes in that way that he did when he was reassuring himself. “Good. Off you go.”

Hunk’s grip on his arms relaxed and he tentatively patted Lance on the shoulder when he made no move to go after Keith again.

“I’ll see you later,” Hunk said quietly.

Lance spat a mouthful of blood into the dirt. “Yeah.” He didn’t look at anyone as he left.

Keith stared at the small puddle of blood, guilt gnashing at his insides.

He did that.

He hurt Lance.

He made Lance bleed.

“Keith.” Shiro patted his shoulder and pulled him from his shock.

Keith turned around to look at him and he nodded his head after Lance. “You’d better get going.”

Keith nodded but he didn’t really feel it. He looked around at the group, at their apprehensive nervous expressions, and he felt dread settle in his stomach along with the guilt.

They’d all hate him now. Why wouldn’t they? He hurt their friend. 

He caught Hunk’s eye and the strained shaky smile he received was confirmation enough for him.

“Right.” He turned on his heel and followed after Lance, making no effort to actually catch up with him. 

When he finally did make it to the classroom, Lance was already there, angrily working his way through polishing a candle holder on one side of the room. He didn’t look up when Keith walked in, despite the fact that he’d pointedly made his footsteps a little louder to avoid alarming him.

Keith took it for the sign that it was: Lance was angry and didn’t want to talk to him. He didn’t expect anything else but seeing it right before his eyes was painful in a way he hadn’t expected. Lance had always acknowledged him before, even if it was just to make sure Keith knew he was mad (or badly act like he wasn’t).

The silence was unnerving- stifling and oppressive and Keith could feel his stomach tying itself into knots. He took in the immovable set of Lance’s shoulders, the stiff line of his spine, and the furious air around him, and he told himself that the only thing he should feel surprised about was the fact that it took almost three years to screw up this particular relationship.

He grabbed a rag and set about polishing the things on ‘his’ side of the room.

The quiet stretched on forever. Keith tried to be grateful for the easy detention- he’d never forget the time he’d been stuck with organizing all the storage cupboards in the potions room- but the monotony of the job didn’t offer any distraction; it wasn’t a task he could get lost in. All it did was allow him ample time to think about how royally he had fucked up. Every minute spent shining something was made longer by the dreadful silence hanging in the air, weighted down with the guilt and anger swirling in his head.

Did Coran do that on purpose? Did he pick this specific punishment because he knew they would have no option but to think about their mistakes?

There was a loud clanging noise from the other side of the room and Keith turned to see Lance had dropped the small statue he’d been working on. He stooped to pick it up and when he stood again he turned and Keith grit his teeth against all of the air in his lungs that wanted to rush out of him.

The bruise on Lance’s face looked awful. Already there was a myriad of colors blooming across his cheek and it hadn’t even finished settling yet. His lip was swollen and still bleeding slightly, proved evident when Lance sniffed and lifted a sleeve to gingerly dab at his mouth. He pulled his hand away to inspect the new stain on his shirt and Keith was speaking before he could think better of it.

“That looks pretty bad.”

Lance shot a glare at him and Keith gulped. Okay, so that was definitely a dumb opening but he’d started now so there was no stopping. “I-... If you want I could-” He started to reach for his wand in hopes that Lance would understand him and have enough mercy to not make him stumble his way through actually saying it.

“No offense, Keith, but I don’t want you to even look at me right now.”

Keith felt his heart stutter in his chest and he just knew how obvious his hurt was on his face, could feel it but couldn’t do anything to stop it. He couldn’t put up a front, couldn’t even manage an attempt.

Lance bit his lip and looked away. After a moment he turned back to polishing the statue he’d dropped and Keith was left staring at his rigid back.

Of course, now that Lance had said he didn’t want Keith to look at him he couldn’t stop. He finished polishing his side of the room and managed not to let his gaze wander too much but once he was done he sat at a desk with nothing to do but look around.

Lance sat across from him on the other side of the room, his slowly blackening eye clearly visible, and Keith couldn’t do anything but stare at it and compare the size of the growing bruise with his own growing guilt.

It was well after noon when Coran came back- almost dinner time actually. He breezed into the room and didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at either of them. He went into his office and closed the door and the silence in the room seemed to get impossibly more tense. 

Keith looked up at Lance who appeared, for a brief moment, more nervous than angry. Their eyes met and Lance pursed his lips and looked back down at his desk.

The door to Coran’s office opened and he stepped into view, no longer wearing his cloak. “Keith,” he said simply, tilting his head back into the room as a clear sign for Keith to come in.

Keith stood and clenched his sweaty hands into fists. He pointedly didn’t look at Lance as he passed him and he took a slow, level breath to try to steady the shaky feeling in his knees.

Coran held the door open wider for him and gestured to a comfy looking plush blue chair that Keith carefully sat in, back ramrod straight and posture stiff. He watched as Coran closed the door and murmured something softly. The door seemed to ripple for a moment and when it stopped Coran turned around and said “Imperturbable charm,” by way of explanation

He moved around the room in an unhurried fashion, like he didn’t have a student in need of lecturing sitting in his armchair. He deftly pointed his wand at the fireplace and warm flames fluttered into existence, lighting the room in a pleasant orange glow.

“Tea?” He sat a tea tray down on the table next to him and then went to dig through a cupboard. “I’ve got some biscuits too if you’d like.”

“I didn’t mean to hit him!” Keith blurted. Coran turned to look at him, visibly a little surprised, but Keith couldn’t stand it anymore.

It was all too much. He hit Lance and here he was being offered tea and biscuits like he hadn’t just screwed up all of his relationships with his friends in a single afternoon.

Coran didn’t say anything. He just went back to digging in his cupboard until he found what he was looking for. 

“I just- it was a joke! He didn’t have to shove me! And then I shoved back and then he fell and- It was an accident, I swear!” He felt his eyes stinging and his throat starting to close up but he needed Coran to understand- needed him to know he wasn’t trying to fuck everything up.

Coran put a plate of biscuits down on the tray next to one of the cups and sat down across from him. “Have some tea, Keith. It’ll help.”

Keith nodded mutely and poured himself a cup. He didn’t add anything and quickly took a large drink, nearly scalding his throat the whole way down. “It was an accident,” he said again, weakly. 

“I believe you,” Coran said simply.

Keith’s eyes shot up and he stared at Coran as he stirred his tea and then took a sip.

“You do?”

Coran nodded. “Of course.”

Keith sighed and slouched into the back of the chair. Knowing one person believed him made him feel so much better. He felt some of the stress going away and he closed his eyes for a moment. “They all probably hate me now anyway,” he said quietly. “Not that I blame them. Accident or not, I did kind of punch Lance in the face.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand if you explain it to them.”

Keith scoffed and stared into the fire. “They wouldn’t believe me. They only hang out with me because I’m Shiro’s younger brother anyway. They all actually like Lance so it’s obvious they’ll never forgive me for hurting him.” He didn’t say that he’d probably never forgive himself for hurting Lance either.

“You know that’s not true, Keith.”

“I don’t. And neither do you.”

“You’re right. But I do know that the quickest way to find out is to ask them.”

Keith’s eyes shot over to Coran, wide and alarmed. “I can’t do that,” he said emphatically. “You have no idea how much I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can!”

“What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey guys just checking but do you actually like me?’”

“Well maybe not exactly like that,” Coran said, seeming to actually consider Keith’s suggestion. “But something similar, yes.”

Keith stared at him and willed him to just understand why he couldn’t do that. “Sir,” he pleaded.

“I’m no fool, Keith. I know it’s also the scariest way. But if you don’t ask them then you’ll never know for sure. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Allow them a chance to explain themselves. If you’ve already decided how they feel about you, isn’t that just as unfair as it would be if they didn’t let you explain this situation with Lance? The best way to sort out anything you’re unsure of is to just ask.”

Keith stared down into his teacup for a long moment, knowing Coran had a point but unwilling to admit it.

“Obviously I can’t force you to do anything, but if the only thing that’s holding you back is fear then I’ll say this: You know Lance doesn’t spend time with people he dislikes. If he truly was just ‘tolerating’ you then you’d see a lot less of him, even if you are roommates.”

Keith sighed and slumped down in his seat. There was another undeniable point. He’d seen Lance interact with people he didn’t like and it wasn’t anything like how he interacted with Keith. In Lotor’s case, Lance just avoided him altogether, which was no easy feat since Lotor had spent most of their first year orbiting around their group, always within eyesight. Keith had always glared at him until he left, but now that he thought about it, Lance had sent him a barely-there smile every time he noticed. 

So Lance… probably didn’t hate him. Probably. That might have changed since Keith punched him in the face but as of that morning, they were… maybe friends?

“I’ll think about it,” Keith said finally.

“Good Lad,” Coran said, nodding with a quietly proud smile on his face. “Now finish your tea and run along. It’s almost time for dinner.”

Keith looked up at the clock and then hurriedly downed the rest of his tea in one go. He wasn’t planning on going to dinner but he didn’t want Lance to miss it just because he had to wait for Keith to finish talking to Coran.

“Thanks, professor,” Keith said as he stood.

“My office is always open.” Coran stood as well and moved to open the door for him. “Anytime you need.”

Keith nodded and stepped out, eyes automatically gravitating to Lance who stared at his desk until Coran called his name.

“Lance.”

Lance stood and shuffled into the office, not sparing a glance for Keith. He flopped down into the blue armchair and immediately started spooning sugar into a teacup.

“Keith doesn’t take sugar in his tea,” Coran remarked, sitting down in his own chair after charming the door again.

“I know.”

Coran nodded and sipped his tea.

Lance poured tea into his cup and stirred it but he didn’t drink it, opting to stare at the small whirlpool as it faded. “How mad are you?” he asked after a while.

“I’m more concerned than mad. It’s not like you to fight, especially not with one of your friends.”

“And how mad is he?”

“He’s not mad at all. He’s incredibly hurt and upset and I’d imagine a good deal confused. Probably about how you feel, I’d wager. You need to talk to him, Lance.”

“I did,” Lance said bitterly. “That’s why we’re in this mess.”

“Now I’m the one that’s confused.” Coran put his teacup back on its saucer and put it aside.

“Last week after the roster was posted he tracked me down and wanted to talk. So we did. I told him… not everything but enough. I talked about a lot of my insecurities and I really thought we were getting there, you know? He said… well… not all the right things but enough things that were right enough for me to believe…” Lance sniffed, cutting himself off, and wiped his nose, wincing when it pulled on the muscles in his bruised cheek.

“How’s that doing?” Coran asked, tactfully avoiding mentioning the fact that Lance was crying.

“‘S fine,” he muttered. “It’ll suck for a couple days and then it’ll be okay.”

“Do you want me to fix it? Or the nurse?”

Lance shook his head. “And today… Today he said I was a fuck up. He looked me in the eye and called me a fuck up.” He looked at Coran, walls down and emotions laid bare. “And the stupid thing is I know he was joking- I know he was. But I still got mad. And then I pushed him and I was so… so angry and I couldn’t see past it enough to calm down and realize that I was overreacting and then he pushed me back and I fell and-” Lance had to stop to inhale a shaky breath but when he opened his mouth again he couldn’t make any words come out.

“Lance…” Coran said sympathetically, “You weren’t overreacting. You didn’t handle it well but the way you felt was completely understandable and you can’t tell yourself it wasn’t.”

Lance cleared his throat and nodded. “Okay,” he said hoarsely.

“If you ever need to hear how bright and wonderful you are, you can always come to me, and I’m sure any of your other friends would happily tell you as well. And you’re right, I’m sure Keith was joking. I’m sure he had no intention of hurting you in any way, emotionally or physically. He feels really bad about it, Lance.”

“I know he does,” Lance smiled weakly. “He’s probably worried I won’t be his friend anymore.”

Coran went quiet for a moment and Lance could tell he was debating something.

“This… isn’t really my place to say this… but he might need to be reminded that you’re his friend. Especially after this.”

Lance blinked, confused. “What?”

“Just… to clear the air a bit.” Coran stirred his tea needlessly. “Set some things straight… Reaffirm the old camaraderie... bond…”

“Coran,” Lance said seriously. “Are you telling me that Keith doesn’t think we’re friends?”

“That’s not what I’m telling you at all,” Coran said and took a sip of his tea. “But I may be very heavily implying it.”

“Oh my gosh.” Lance let his head fall back onto his chair and stared up at the ceiling, trying to comprehend how he’d made it through two years of an apparently one-sided friendship without noticing. “Of course. Only Keith.”

“Just… talk to him, okay? You’ve both got some things to say to each other and I won’t play messenger. Have a proper sit down with him and I’m sure everything will be straightened out.”

“Yeah, I will.” Lance sat up and looked at the clock. Dinner had started already but he wasn’t particularly hungry and he didn’t feel up to dealing with people staring at his injured face. “Can I hang out here until after dinner? I just need some time to… unwind.”

“Of course.” Coran lightly pushed the plate of biscuits towards him. “Have a cookie.”

Lance had a cookie.

\-----

Keith bundled himself further in his favorite red blanket, grabbing the part around his neck and flipping it up over his head like a hood. His divination book lay open on his bed, surrounded by parchment, a notebook, and some spare pencils. The guilt was eating him alive, completely distracting him from his attempt at studying. As if she had sensed his turbulent emotions, Red jumped up onto his bed and clambered up into his lap, chirping sweetly.

Blue, following her kitty friend, hopped up onto the bed, settling herself onto his book and batting at his unmoving pencil with a little paw. 

Keith tried to smile at their adorableness, “Thanks Red and Blue.” 

Then the door to their room slammed open and Lance stomped in. “That’s it, you brooding little shit.” 

Keith squeaked as Lance grabbed Keith’s sweater off the floor and chucked it in his face. 

“Put that on and come with me.” 

Lance grabbed his wrist and hauled him off his bed. Keith stumbled to catch himself and not squish the cats. His blanket tangled around his legs, making the whole endeavor rather difficult. 

He yanked his wrist away and glared at Lance, “Hold on one second, where the hell are we going? It’s after curfew.” 

Lance scoffed, reaching over to untangle Keith from his blanket and bunded it in his arms. “When have you ever cared about curfew? Stuff the curfew, we’re going on an adventure.” 

Keith’s head snapped up, meeting Lance’s eyes. “An… an adventure?” he stammered out. They hadn’t gone on an adventure yet that year, just the two of them, which was weird considering how Lance always wanted to do things and Keith had no impulse control. Plus why would Lance want to go anywhere with him? Keith had called him a fuck up and then punched him in the face. 

Lance smiled softly at him. “Yeah, an adventure. So bundle up and let’s go! I know how you get really cold, you baby.” 

Keith pulled the sweater over his head, “I’m not a baby.” 

“You get so freaking cold all the time, you are a baby.” 

“You’re the one who always complains about the cold!” 

Lance scooped up two more blankets and chucked another sweatshirt at him.“It is freezing, put like five more sweaters on.” 

Keith caught the sweatshirt, exasperatedly. “It’s not that cold, Lance.” 

“It’s 50 degrees! You’re tiny and will catch a cold.” He grabbed Keith’s wrist again, hauling him out the door. 

“I am not tiny,” Keith scoffed, indignantly. “We are exactly the same height.” 

“I’m going to be taller than you, I just know it. Besides, you’re always bundled up in blankets or sweaters or scarves. I know for a fact that you have like six stolen sweatshirts from Shiro.” 

“That’s because they are huge and cozy! And how many sweaters are you wearing?” 

“Eight? I’m not a dumb mullet-head.” 

“That’s too many, and stop calling my hair a mullet.” 

“It’s not too many, and it is a mullet!”

Keith was thoroughly confused as to why Lance wasn’t acting more mad at him, the ugly bruise on his face a constant reminder to Keith about how much he screwed up. But he smiled softly as they fell into their normal routine of bickering as Lance lead Keith through the castle,

Their debate about sweaters turning into a debate about who did better at Quidditch last practice. They slipped into adventure mode, both knowing when to be silent or tuck into an alcove, giggling, or when they could continue their debate in whispers. Keith couldn’t help but smile because things seemed to be back to normal.

“Ta-da!” Lance declared, swinging open the door at the top of the stairs he had just made Keith climb. 

“The Astronomy tower?” Keith asked, shivering slightly in the cool midnight air.

“Mmhmm!” Lance chirped, wrapping Keith up in a blanket and dragging him toward the center of the floor. He laid down one of the other blankets and then plopped down on top of it. Keith sat down next to him, and Lance spread the last blanket over the both of their laps. 

Lance flopped back dramatically, his arms behind his head. “Check out how bright the stars are tonight.” 

Keith laid down beside him, copying his position. “They really are.” 

Lance hummed in contentment. 

The boys stared up at the sky for a while, enjoying the breeze that whistled through the trees and the occasional splash from Lance’s adopted pet, the giant squid. 

Finally, Keith broke the silence. “So why did you drag me up here?” 

“’Cause this whole situation was eating at you, and I know you like to look at the stars when you’re being emotionally constipated.” 

Keith sat up abruptly, looking indignantly down at the smirking boy. “I am not emotionally constipated!” 

Lance’s hand grabbed his arm and hauled him back down onto the blanket. “Cool your jets, hotshot. I’m just razzing you.” 

Keith pouted in silence for a moment. Then, “I’ve never told you I like to look at the stars.” 

He could feel Lance shrug, his shoulder bumping into his own. “You always sneak out and I see you by the lake, or you stare out the window. It’s your typical brooding technique after you pace for days.” 

Keith reflected for a moment, realizing that Lance was right. “You notice all those things?” 

“I like to know when my friends are upset, so I can help them feel better.” 

Keith’s mouth fell open in shock and his head turned to the boy. “… friends?” 

Lance turned his head, meeting his surprised gaze. “Why are you shocked that we’re friends? We live together, have every class together, hang out in the same friend group, and probably know more about each other than any of our other friends.” His brow furrowed, “Why wouldn’t I call you my friend?” 

Keith looked back up at the stars abruptly, thinking about it. “I guess… I just assumed that you didn’t like me because we fight all the time. Plus I punched you in the face and called you a fuck-up.” Keith felt his shoulders rising toward his neck. “And I’m really, really sorry for that and I understand if you don’t like me anymore or don’t want to be friends anymore or-” 

Lance’s scoff cut him off, “Of course I like you, idiot. You are very like-able, even with that stupid mullet.” Keith opened his mouth to protest, but Lance cut him off. “And I forgive you.” 

Keith’s breath caught, his eyes still trained on the stars, “You forgive me?” 

Lance’s shrug jostled his shoulder, “Of course I forgive you, and I’m sorry too. You were making a joke for once, a fantastic one by the way, and I shoved you and then it just spiraled out of control.” 

Keith turned to meet Lance’s blue eyes, surprised. He was not expecting this outcome at all. 

Lance continued, “My talk with Professor Coran made me realize that maybe you’ve been interpreting our friendship all wrong and that it’s my fault. I don’t mean to fight with you, and I’m sorry it seemed that I didn’t like you. I like to banter with you! Just some friendly competition! It’s one of the few ways I can get a rise out of you. You are kind of quiet, you know.” 

Keith felt his heart rise up to his throat. Lance forgave him? He liked him? They were actually friends? All the stupid competitions were just to pull Keith into the group?

“I guess what I want to say is,” Lance continued, “that I know my insecurities can get in the way sometimes. We kind of found that out after the whole Quidditch tryouts and everything; thank you for yelling at me that me being dumb was dumb, by the way. But, of course you’re my friend.” 

Keith blinked back tears, telling himself that he really shouldn’t cry over this. 

They were silent for a moment, Lance seeming to know that Keith needed a couple minutes to digest his words. 

“I…” Keith started, words not bursting out of him for once. “Thank you? I have never made friends well. I do dumb things like punch the ones I have in the face.” He turned his head away from Lance and ducked his chin down into his chest, mumbling, “Plus, everyone loves Shiro and all my friends are Shiro’s friends. So I just kind of assume that they only spend time with me because I’m Shiro’s younger brother.” 

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Keith turned to Lance indignantly, but Lance cut off the protest. “How many times have we hung out without Shiro? And answer honestly.” 

“A lot, I guess.” 

“And Pidge literally glomps you every time she sees you. It took her a year to stop acting affronted when I hugged her, and my hugs are the best, besides Hunk’s of course.” 

Well, he was right there. Pidge did hug him a lot, and she only did that with her close friends. “Pidge does like climbing on top of me.”

Lance giggled, “She is like a larger version of Red.” 

Keith chuckled at the thought of Pidge climbing her way to the top of his head like his monkey of a cat. 

Lance continued, “And Hunk always tells me that I have to bring you to hang out. Allura makes sure you eat properly and always tells Shiro when you look too tired. Matt goes out of his way to make you laugh or groan.”

Keith looked back up at the night sky, his eyes tracing the familiar patterns in the stars. Lance was right, their friends did make a huge effort to make sure he was cared for. 

“We all care about you a lot, you dimwit.” Lance’s voice cracked with emotion, “Of course we are really your friends.”

Keith was failing at holding back tears at that point, a few slipping down his face. 

“And even though Shiro may have introduced you to the majority of the people in the group, that doesn’t mean that you aren’t an important member.”

Keith suddenly saw the constellations in a new light; none of them would really work if one of the stars was missing. He realized that maybe they were all a little bit like constellations, just looking for other people to help complete the group and create something beautiful. 

“If it is any consolation, I barreled into you day one and then we were stuck in a room together. Shiro didn’t have anything to do with us meeting, and,” his voice was tender, almost a whisper. “I’m definitely your friend.” 

Keith’s hand found Lance’s wrist on the blanket between them and squeezed it. “Thank you, Lance. I’m definitely your friend too.” He took a deep breath, “And… I know I kinda already attempted to apologize… and… and you forgave me for… well… everything, but… I really am sorry.”

Lance tilted his head onto Keith’s shoulder in response. “And I really do forgive you. We cool?”

“Yeah. We’re cool.”

They laid like that in silence for a couple minutes, basking in each other’s presence under the stars, Keith’s finger’s brushing along the soft skin of Lance’s wrist and Lance’s hair tickling his cheek. A bubbling giddiness rose in Keith’s stomach and he couldn’t help but to grin. 

Lance forgave him. Lance was his friend! 

Lance’s stomach was rumbling loudly. 

Both boys looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing. 

Lance reached up to brush a tear out of his eye, his loud laughter fading into soft giggles. “I’m sorry. I skipped dinner to talk with Professor Coran more.” 

Keith felt his trouble-making smirk spread across his face, “And I just couldn’t eat. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” 

His eyes met a matching smirk and familiar glint in Lance’s eyes, “Hell yeah I am!” 

Both boys scrambled upwards, snatching blankets as they went. They raced to the Astronomy tower door, Keith barely winning to twist the doorknob open, and burst through, stumbling down the stairs. 

Racing through the corridors, barely avoiding getting caught no less than three times, they came to a brief stop for Lance to tickle a familiar pear on the correct artwork. 

The Head Chef House-Elf glared at the two boys as they came skidding into the kitchen, managing to stop in front of her, grinning and breathless. 

Lance bowed to her, his usual flirtatious smile back on his face. “Cookie, you are looking lovely as usual this evening.” 

“And you boys are breaking the rules, as usual, this evening,” she groused, her ears flickering in annoyance. 

Lance, unfazed, raised an eyebrow, “This is why you are the best house-elf for the job! You take no crap from students, on top of being the best cook in the world!” 

“Flattery will get you nowhere, child.” 

“No, but it will get my poor starving stomach a sandwich,” Lance fired back with finger guns.

Cookie burst out laughing. “You’re lucky I like your spunk, boy.” She turned to the bustling kitchen behind her, busy even at the late hour. “Someone bring these two hungry boys a plate of sandwiches and some other snacks.” 

The boys rushed to the counter, Keith almost tripping over his feet, and plopped down on the stools. A moment later, three bowing house-elves set down a large platter of sandwiches, some tea, a bowl of fruit, and another of chips. 

In between the familiar act of stuffing his face with food and joking with Lance, Keith realized that Lance was right. 

Of course, they were friends.  
\-------

“... and that’s how you use What’s app!” Lance said, handing Pidge’s phone back to her. 

Pidge snatched it out of his hand, “So now we can do the texting thing?” 

Lance chuckled, “Yes, now you can do the texting thing.” 

“That’s so amazing, I need to get a phone as soon as I get home!” Hunk said, pulling Lance in for a side hug. 

Keith peered over Pidge’s shoulder, squinting at the small screen. “So we can just send messages back and forth immediately?” 

“Yeah!” Lance cheered, leaning forward. “It’s like having a conversation, so you don’t have to send paragraphs like you do when you write a letter.” 

Lance tried not to melt as Keith’s dimples made an appearance. “I’ll buy a phone as soon as I get home then. It would be cool to be able to talk to all my friends over summer.” 

“Definitely!” He cheered, “We will start a group chat so we can all talk, and we can chat individually at any point! We can stay in touch the whole summer.” He paused for a second. “Though we should still write letters because I like writing those and seeing your lovely owl.” 

Hunk leaned over to scratch his cute grey owl, named Herbert Von Schnecke. “And Herb loves to visit you, don’t you, you good boy!” Hunk continued to coo at his adorable owl. 

Lance and Pidge giggled while Keith just gave him a weird look. 

Lance nudged Keith’s shoulder, “Oh come on, don’t give Hunk that face. You totally baby talk Red.” 

Keith huffed and crossed his arms, “I do not.” 

“Do too!” 

“Do not!” 

Pidge tugged on Keith’s sleeve, pulling him away from the bickering. “You so do, Keith.” 

Keith sighed and gave up, “Okay, maybe I do.” 

The whole group laughed together, their grins lighting up their eyes.

Hunk spotted his parents on the platform and waved at them. “Okay, guys. This is it…” He trailed off, tears in his eyes. 

Lance tried not to burst into tears and jumped into his bestie’s arms. “I’m going to miss you so much!” He squeezed tightly, “I’m going to text you all the time now!” 

Pidge tucked her phone in her pocket and jumped on top of them, giggling. Lance grabbed on and pulled her in. 

Keith was staring at them awkwardly until Lance reached out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him into the group hug. 

\--------

Keith stared at the open letter on his bed, tapping his fingers on his crossed knees in confusion. It was a normal letter from Lance, filled with doodles all over the margins and no less than three stories about his latest hijinks with his siblings. It shouldn’t have gotten his nerves as riled as they were.

But that last sentence…

‘P.S. We should totally Skype sometime’

What did it mean?

Keith wracked his brain again and again but he couldn’t think of any possible meaning.

Was it a challenge? It had to be a challenge; it was Lance.

Deciding that it was, in fact, a challenge Keith did the obvious thing to do and composed a letter in reply, making sure to answer every question posed to him and comment on every story, as well as include some of his own, but at the end he tacked on: ‘I’m up for it whenever you are.’

Keith read over the letter twice and then sealed it and sent it off with his owl.

He really hoped that the wording he used was acceptable for whatever it was he’d agreed to. Maybe he’d ask Shiro. Or Pidge. It was probably a muggle thing anyway.

He, of course, forgot to ask Pidge until later that week when he got another letter from Lance.

‘You don’t even know what Skype is, do you? But now that you’ve agreed you have to! It’s a muggle thing. Ask Pidge or Matt. Or Hunk. They’ll help you get an account and everything. My username is LanceLanceRevolution so add me when you get everything set up.’

“Add him? To what?” Keith muttered, scanning over the words again. “What’s a username? And are they supposed to make no sense? What revolution?”

“You okay there, Keith?” Pidge asked, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

Keith jumped and shoved the letter under his pillow, unsure why he was so embarrassed to be caught reading it, but flustered nonetheless. “Don’t sneak up on me, Pidge! How long have you been there?”

“Not long. You didn’t hear Shiro yelling to tell you Matt and I are here?” She barely waited for him to shake his head before a mischievous grin spread over her face. “Whatcha got there? Must be pretty distracting if you missed all that.”

She made a grab for the pillow but Keith yanked the letter out from under it and leaped from his bed, holding it high above his head and effectively well out of her reach. “It’s nothing!”

“It’s very obviously not nothing! What is it? Is it a letter? Who’s it from?”

“It’s just from Lance!” He cried.

“Oh.” She stopped trying to climb him to get to the letter and stared at him intently. “If it’s just Lance why are you acting so weird about it?”

“I- don’t know?” He floundered. “I just- he- I don’t know! He wants me to ‘Skype’ with him? But I don’t know what that is?”

“And you haven’t asked me because…?”

“Well mostly because I just forgot to.”

Pidge sighed and put her hand to her forehead, shaking her head slowly. “Keith Keith Keith.”

“What?” he bristled. 

“This is a big step! Skyping already? You’re growing up!”

“Uh… what?”

“I can’t believe he asked you though. He’s so bold!”

“Bold? Why? Why is he bold? What are you talking about?” Keith asked nervously. He felt his face beginning to heat up from the unsettled nerves in his stomach. “What’s a Skype, Pidge?”

The grin on her face went from over-the-top happy to downright impish. “Oh… It’s just a muggle thing,” she singsonged. “One of many muggle things. Used for… getting close to people. If you know what I mean.”

Keith could have sworn he could hear the ‘fwoosh’ of flames as his face went beet red. “What?” his voice cracked but Pidge didn’t call him out on it. “No, I do not know!”

“You know… when you’re friends are too far away… and you get lonely…” She trailed off. “That’s when you use it. I’m surprised he worked up the courage to ask you.”

“I-I… No… He wouldn’t… He’s not- We’re not-!”

Pidge patted him on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay, man,” she said seriously. “At the moment though we’re gonna be late for our picnic with Hunk so come on!” She strolled out of the room, a suspicious spring in her step that Keith would have definitely noticed were he not reeling in shock and staring at the slightly crumpled letter in his hand.

“Come on, Keith!” she called from the end of the hall.

\---

“So I was on Skype with Lance last night-”

Keith choked on the piece of fruit he’d been eating, effectively cutting off whatever Hunk was about to say.

“Keith! Are you okay?!”

“You were-” Keith coughed a few more times and inhaled a strangled breath. “What?!” He yelled.

“Uh… Skyping with Lance?”

“Merlin’s beard, Hunk!” His face was bright red again, he could feel it.

“What?” Hunk said defensively. “Why is that a bad thing? I thought you guys were admitting you’re friends now?”

It was then that Keith noticed Pidge cackling madly next to him and suspicion began to creep into his thoughts.

“Hunk,” he said flatly. “What is Skype?”

“Uh… It’s a chatting system? With video so you can see each other face to face? Lance really likes to use it since he’s so far away and can’t hang out with us during the summer.”

“It makes him feel less lonely!” Pidge snorted.

“Pidge,” Keith growled.

“Am I missing something?” Hunk asked, looking between the two of them.

“Pidge told me it was something dirty!” He pointed an accusing finger at her and turned to Hunk, hoping for some sympathy.

“Pidge!” Hunk scolded.

“I did not! I told him it was something muggles used when their friends were far away and they felt lonely!”

“Yeah- In that voice you use when you’re making inappropriate jokes! You should have heard her, Hunk, there was nothing else she could have meant!”

“Uh, clearly I meant the truth?”

Keith leveled a flat look at her.

“Why were you guys talking about Skype?”

“Because Lance asked if they could Skype,” Pidge grinned. “It was too good to pass up, Hunk.”

Hunk sighed and shook his head. “What if he’d believed you and just left Lance hanging all summer? He would have been so hurt!”

“I wouldn’t have let it go that long,” she waved her hand dismissively. “He’s only been stewing in his nerves for thirty minutes.”

“Can we just move on from that?” Keith said loudly. “Hunk would you help me set up an… I think he said it was an account?”

Hunk nodded and pulled his laptop out of his bag. “Sure thing. Have you guys set up a time yet?”

“Um… No. He just gave me his name and told me to add him.”

“I’ll text him and ask.” He rested his laptop on his knees and picked up his phone instead. “It’ll take forever to hash out the details if you do it by letter.”

Pidge used Hunk’s moment of distraction to pull the laptop from his grasp. “I’m setting up Keith’s email and account!”

“O...Kay? Knock yourself out I guess,” Keith said warily.

And so Keith ended up with a username just as ridiculous as Lance’s: SupremeEmoLordOnTheEdge.

Keith stared blankly at the screen. “What. Have you done.”

“This is now your online persona. Anyone who interacts with you will associate this name with you,” she grinned, looking more than proud of herself.

Keith groaned and put his head in his hands.

“Hate to interrupt your despair, Mr. EmoLord, Sir,” Hunk chimed in, “But Lance finally texted me back. He’s cool with doing it tomorrow and wants to know if you have a preference for what time.” A small jingle came from the phone and Hunk looked down at his screen. “Also he says to remind you to add him.”

“On it,” Pidge said, moving her finger around on the trackpad.

“Uh… I dunno. Eight thirty tomorrow morning?”

“Okay.” Hunk sent the text but then he paused and looked up at him “Wait…” He tilted his head to one side, a tick he had when thinking sometimes. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah? Why?”

“It’s just-” His phone jingled again and he looked down at the screen. “Oh. He says that’s perfect. I just… thought he’d be busy.”

Pidge snorted. “Busy. Right. Well, he wouldn’t have agreed if he was gonna be busy.”

“Right…” Keith looked between them. “Why are you guys acting weird?”

“No reason. I’m just debating if I care enough to sign into your account on my computer when I get home to set a profile picture for you. You’re gonna borrow my laptop right?”

That hadn’t even occurred to Keith. “Oh uh… Yeah. If I could.”

Pidge nodded. “No problem. I’ll be over at eight. There better be breakfast.”

“Sure thing.”

\---

The next morning found Keith sitting at the table in his kitchen, Pidge sitting across from him eating a large muffin with a larger mug of tea in front of her.

“So you just click on his icon- the picture of him- and then on the button in the top right that looks like a video camera.”

Keith shifted in his seat and stared at the screen.

“The rectangle with the triangle next to it.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks.”

“No problem.” She shoved the rest of her muffin in her mouth, grabbed another, and picked up her mug of tea. “I’m going to go find your cat and love her. If you need any help just yell.”

Keith nodded, still staring at the screen.

He felt nervous, sweaty palms clenching and unclenching on his knees.

It was just Lance. 

He looked over to the picture of Lance- his icon, Pidge had called it. He was standing on a beach with a little girl hanging from his back. He was smiling, they both were, and his hair was blown back from his face. It was Lance in a place he’d never seen with a person he’d never met.

But it was still just Lance, right?

Keith took a deep breath and clicked on the video camera button.

\------

Lance yawned, pulling the covers around him tighter, and continued to play the game on his phone. The little light on his bedside table was casting shadows around the room, but keeping him awake as he waited. 

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long, the notification for a skype call interrupting his game. He hit accept and set the phone sideways on the bed so his face filled the screen. 

Grinning at the screen, he took in the familiar face that he hadn’t seen for two months. “Hi, Keithy boy.” 

Keith was fidgeting nervously against a light grey wall, the sun shining onto him. Even in the crappy skype quality, Lance noticed how the light glistened off his hair. He blinked slowly, trying to take in the bright light of his phone and the picture of his roommate. 

Keith was making his processing face as he stared at Lance. Then it transformed to shock. “Lance!” he screeched, “What the fuck, man? What time is it there? I totally forgot about the time difference!” He ran his hands messily through his hair. “Why didn’t Pidge remind me about this? First, she fucks with me about what Skype is, and then teases me about being technology-inept, and now this!? She knew I was calling you at 8:30 this morning and didn’t mention anything!” 

He turned his glare toward Lance, who was watching his mental freak out with sleepy amusement. “And you!” Keith’s eyes narrowed, “What time even is it there? You look like I just woke you up! Why did you say this was okay?!” 

“Well hello to you too. What a lovely way to wake up, though I can’t say it’s worse than when you literally hauled me out of bed by my ankle,” Lance giggled. 

“Lance,” Keith said, exasperated. 

“Alright, alright! It’s like 3:30 am here, and I set an alarm to wake up a bit before you called. But in my defense, I knew that you would have to skype me in the morning for you because otherwise, you would be a nervous wreck all day.” 

Keith glared at him, affronted. “I would not!” 

Lance raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Keith, you literally brood all day when you have to wait for a new situation. You like to dive right into it first thing in the morning. That’s why you’re such a morning person when you have stuff going on during the day, and can stay in bed all day like a grumpy cat when you have nothing going on.” 

“I do not!” Keith pouted. 

Lance smirked at him. “You so do, my man.” 

Keith huffed and blew a strand of his bangs out of his eyes. “Even if I did, you still should have told me that it would be stupid o’clock in the morning for you.” 

“Mmm…” Lance agreed, snuggling deeper into his pillow, “Probably should have. But I’d rather have you be not as wound up for our first skype convo.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” 

Lance chuckled, “Quit being mad at me, you emo ass, and enjoy the ability to see my beautiful face.” 

“You mean your half-asleep ass in shitty lighting.” 

“Rude!” Lance snatched his phone and sat up, leaning against the wall. “If you wanted to see my lovely self better, you could have just asked!” 

Keith laughed, his eyes sparkling, “Yeah, right.” 

“So can we go back to your ramblings, where you mentioned that Pidge screwed with you about what Skype is?” Lance smirked. 

Keith groaned and hid his blushing face in his hands. 

“No, no we cannot go back to that.” 

“Awww come on, Keith! Please? You know I can just ask her and she’ll make it much less flattering for you.”

“Shhh!” Keith looked around nervously, his hands reaching for the screen and the picture moving awkwardly. “That would be way, way worse!”

Lance perked up, looking around with a shit-eating grin spread across his face. “Oh my gosh, is she in your house? Why are you moving the screen around like that?” He moved around, trying to see around Keith. “Pidge!! Oh, Pidgeon!!” 

Keith’s face got more red, to Lance’s delight. “No! Shhhh! I’ll tell you, I promise I’ll tell you!” 

Lance couldn’t stop laughing at Keith, trying to keep it quiet to not wake his family. 

Skyping with Keith was a good idea. 

In fact, this whole friendship with Keith was one of his best ideas yet. 

“Okay, Mullet,” Lance said, settling back into his pillows and pulling his blankets up over his shoulders. “Entertain me with this story.”

Keith sighed and Lance could just tell he was already done with his shit from over 7,000 miles away.

“You can’t laugh.”

“I will make no such promise,” he grinned.

Keith sighed again but he couldn’t, or didn’t, hide the smile that went with it. “Alright. Here we go.”

Yeah. This was his best idea ever.


	2. Year Four: Some Adventure Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge rolled her eyes at the two dorks and followed them. Getting closer, she could hear Lance humming some tune as he pressed his back quickly against a wall, peering around the corner. His hand came out to grab Keith’s robes and push him against the wall too. 
> 
> “Why, Lance. Why,” Keith sighed, exasperatedly. 
> 
> Lance shushed him and then whispered, “Because it is a requirement for being a spy, Keithy-boy!” 
> 
> “No, it’s not!” Keith whisper-shouted back. 
> 
> “Do wizard spies even exist?” 
> 
> “... No?” 
> 
> “Then we will be trusting my experience over yours!” Lance peered back around the corner, humming under his breath again. 
> 
> \----  
> Year four, featuring friendship bracelets, constant shenanigans, some adventures, and shit starts to get pretty gay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are both sorry and not sorry this took so long, as we just dumped like 80 pages of content in your lap! 
> 
> Let us know what you think! 
> 
> See the comments at the end for a special note from Siren's cat.

Lance was trying not to bounce with excitement as he waited for Hunk to finish saying hello to Blue in her carrier. He kept glancing around, looking through the crowd on the platform for a familiar black mop of hair.

 

Pouting slightly at seeing no sign of said hair, or said hair’s owner, he turned back to his friend. “Hunk! Hunk, look! I made Keith and me matching friendship bracelets over summer! Do you think he’ll like it? It’s his favorite color!” Lance tugged a bracelet out of his pocket and waved it in front of Hunk’s face, threads of red interwoven with little specks of blue and purple, and glinting slightly in the light.

 

Hunk pouted a little bit. “You haven’t made me a friendship bracelet yet!”

 

“Uhhh… W-well I-” Lance stammered, stuffing the bracelet back into his pocket and trying not to offend his best friend. “I… Just… Keith didn’t know we were friends until I told him last year!” he defended. “Besides, I gave you one of my shells from my seashell collection from home!”

 

Hunk gasped in shock, “That poor, oblivious boy! Should I make him one too?” Then a determined look came over his face. “I’m gonna make him one.”

 

Lance took a moment to be proud of his best friend and how genuinely loving he was. Before he could say anything though, Pidge came running out of nowhere, as per usual, yelling “Catch!” and then launching herself at Lance in her customary greeting.

 

He caught her, laughing, and swung her around before setting her down. “I missed you too, my little Pidgeon.”

 

Her look of happiness narrowed, “I haven’t seen you for three months and you’re already on thin fucking ice.”

 

Lance threw his arms out wide, “Would you have me any other way?”

 

An evil glint flashed across her glasses. “I could make you shut up.”

 

“Not even three minutes into the school year and you’re already starting with the threats, what else is new,” Lance snarked.

 

Pidge laughed and shoved him. “Come on, dorks. Matt and the Broganes already have a compartment. You should come to say hi before Shiro has to go join Allura for the Prefect meeting.”

 

Lance grabbed Blue’s carrier as Hunk picked up Lance’s trunk, his own already in the compartment with his neighbors and long-time friends. The trio laughed and joked as they made their way onto the train, trying to make up for lost time.

 

They were giggling through the hallway of the train when they heard Shiro’s exasperated voice come through the open door ahead.

 

“Keith, just fucking wear the necklace. It was a present from Mom and Dad.”

 

“I hate jewelry, why the fuck would I wear it?”

 

Lance, without thinking, as was fairly common for him, put on some speed and burst around the corner, shouting, “You hate jewelry?!”

 

All the boys in the compartment jumped, Keith letting out a small squeak and clutching his hand over his heart.

 

Keith recovered, rolling his eyes. “Well, hello to you too Lance. How was your summer? Good to see you!” He snarked.

 

Lance just ignored his roommate and the weird looks Matt and Shiro were giving him, and spun around to grab Hunk’s arm. “Come on, Hunk. We need to go find… snacks!” He stomped off down the hallway, his trunk and Blue’s carrier abandoned next to Pidge, disregarding all the confused calls after them.

 

“But I brought cookies and the snack cart doesn’t start service until later?” Hunk asked, confused.

 

Lance hauled him into an empty compartment and hissed, “What do I do? I can’t give it to him now, he said he hates jewelry!”

 

Hunk just gave him a weird look. “I’m pretty sure he meant like actual real jewelry.”

 

Lance glared at him. “Are you insulting my jewelry making skills?!” he whispered incredulously.

 

“What! No!” Hunk put his hands up.

 

“Keep your voice down!”

 

Hunk rolled his eyes but complied. “It’s just, I know for a fact that the Shiroganes have a crap-ton of antique gold jewelry heirlooms and they gifted one to Keith as a start of the year present. It’s a bit large and not at all his style. Even I wouldn’t want to wear it! There’s a big difference between that and a friendship bracelet made out of thread!”

 

Lance evaluated the information for a moment. “Okay, fair.” Then the panic returned, “But still! Can you see Keith wearing a friendship bracelet?! He might think it’s dumb?”

 

“If it took the poor guy like three years to realize you were friends, I’m pretty sure he’ll love it.”

 

The compartment door burst open and a ruffled Keith stomped through. “What the hell, man? You really didn’t say hi? It’s been like three months and you sucked at messaging and finding times to skype the last couple weeks.”

 

Hunk looked at Lance. Lance looked at Hunk. Then they both looked back to Keith who was standing in the doorway, hands on his hips and feet wide apart in a stance that would honestly be intimidating, if he didn’t have to stop glaring long enough to blow his bangs out of his face.

 

Lance felt affection for his friend-slash-roommate buzz in his chest. It had been too long since he’d seen that mullet! He swooped Keith up in a giant hug, trapping his arms against his sides and squishing their cheeks together. “I’m so sorry, friend! Hello, bestest roommate in the whole world! Please allow me to tell you how much I missed you!”

 

Keith made some incoherent noises and then squeaked out, “Too much hello!”

 

\-------

 

Lance slapped his hands down on the group’s library table, startling everyone out of their quiet studying. “I am learning to do a Patronus this year,” he declared loudly, breaking the silence of the library. “Fight me!” 

  
Pidge didn’t even look up from her book, her notebooks and pencils strewn about her side of the table. “Don’t fucking yell in the library.” 

  
“Language!” Shiro admonished. “You’re like nine, you shouldn’t cuss.” 

  
That caused her head to snap to the older boy. “I’m thirteen! And you say fuck all the time!” 

  
Matt snorted, causing Shiro to glare at him. “Let my smol bean of a sister say fuck 2k19.” 

  
Lance drummed his hands on the table impatiently, his voice loud. “Stop worrying about Pidge’s cursing habit and pay attention to me! Who can do a Patronus?!” 

  
“Don’t fucking yell in the library, idiot,” Keith mimicked.

  
Shiro’s head turned toward him, “Keith! Language! I literally just said that!” 

  
Keith didn’t even look up from his book, his pen still dashing across the paper next to it. “Don’t tell me what to do, Dad.” 

  
Lance giggled. “Space Dad,” he nodded, seriously. 

  
Matt grinned, something mischievous flickering across his eyes. “Space Dad.” 

  
“Space Dad,” Pidge parroted, once again, not looking up from her work. 

  
Hunk stuck his pen up in the air, “Space Dad.” 

  
Shiro’s eyes had followed them each in turn, his mouth dropping open more with each person’s declaration. “I am not Space Dad!” He yelled. 

  
Keith, with a smug little look on his face, said, “Don’t fucking yell in the library, Space Dad.” 

 

“Also, try to say that next time you go all moony-eyed over-”

 

Hunk cleared his throat loudly, cutting Matt off before he could out Shiro to the object of his affections.

  
Allura, who had quietly disappeared in between the shelves at the beginning of the whole conversation, dropped a book on the table in front of Lance. “Here. I found a book on it. And of course, I can teach you.” 

  
Everyone’s gaze snapped to her, some mouths falling open in shock. Pidge clamored over the table, sweeping up the book and opening it immediately. Matt scrambled out of his chair to peer over her shoulder. Shiro stared at Allura, frozen in shock, though that wasn’t very new. Keith raised an impressed eyebrow, finally looking up from his work.

  
The loudest was Lance, who practically shrieked, “You can do a Patronus?!” 

  
Allura smirked, clearly pleased with the shocked response to her announcement. When she spoke her eyes were downright dangerous. “Don’t fucking yell in the library.” 

  
Lance threw himself to his knees in front of her, his hands folding together. “Allura, Goddess, Princess, Space Mom-” 

  
“Space Mom?!” Shiro interrupted, stammering. 

  
Lance continued, ignoring Shiro’s unordinary outburst. “Teach me your ways, Master Yoda. I am begging you. Teach us, Senpai!” 

  
“Teach us, Senpai!” Matt mimicked, falling to his knees beside Lance.

  
Allura looked regal as always with her head held high, her eyes glinting determinedly. “And what will you do for the honor of my services?” 

  
“Anything,” Lance cried, crawling forward on his knees. “Anything, Princess!” 

  
“Deal,” Allura said, hauling Lance up by the hand and shaking with him. 

  
“Famous last words,” Pidge muttered under her breath. 

 

\-----

 

“Hurry up, Keith!” Lance tore down the corridor, an excited grin on his face. He took a corner too fast, almost losing his footing and braining himself on the wall. 

 

Keith, who was keeping up behind him, laughed. “I think you should worry about the state of your feet before you worry about my speed.”

 

“Can it, Space Cadet,” Lance scowled, pointedly shouldering Keith dangerously close to the wall.

 

“Space Cadet?” Keith parroted, shoving Lance back. “Since when- where did that come from?!”

 

Lance shrugged. “Well, Shiro is Space Dad so as his little brother that makes you Space Cadet. Besides, we all know you’ll act the exact same way if you ever like someone. I’ve been calling you that in my head all summer and I’ve already told Pidge so there’s no going back now. It’s your new nickname.”

 

Keith grumbled but put up no further protest. If Pidge knew, then that was the end of it. He’d be stuck with that name until a more embarrassing one came up. “If he’s the dad and I’m his brother wouldn’t that make me the uncle though?”

 

“Nope. That’s Coran.”

 

“What? This family makes no sense!”

 

“Families don’t have to,” Lance grinned.

 

The boys slowed at a familiar part of the wall and began to pace, thinking of a familiar room.

The door to the Room of Requirement appeared in the wall, and they pushed it open excitedly. Lance burst through and crashed into Hunk, who turned the accidental collision into a hug. 

 

“Hi, Lance!” Hunk chirped. 

 

He heard Keith gasp behind him and looked up to see how the Room had changed once again to fit their needs. The normal island counter by the kitchen counter had disappeared and the couch had been turned around and pushed back against the TV stand, giving them tons of space in the middle of the room. 

 

Lance grinned, happy that he had the foresight to convince his Bisabuela to buy him a Switch this last summer when she took him shopping for back to school stuff. What he hadn’t counted on was her buying three extra sets of controllers and the fancy Joy-con grip controllers for them too, with a perky “Your friends must play the correct way too, yes?” She also bought him any game that he smiled at and didn’t bat her eye twice at the substantial price at the end. Lance didn’t quite understand the wizard money to muggle money ratio yet, but Bisabuela was rich in both and loved spoiling all her family, especially the only wizard. 

 

The Switch already had been used a ton that year, even though it was only the second month. They had a tally board next to the tv, and Lance was pleased to say that he still held the title of Champion of Mario Kart currently on the new system. But Pidge was a close second and Keith was learning crazy-fast. Hunk was still struggling to get the hang of it, mainly because he hated throwing any shells at anyone. Matt was amazing, but didn’t play often enough to be much of a threat. Allura wasn’t great, but had an uncanny ability to win the hardest races. Shiro was awful.

 

And Lance was slightly happy to find something the Golden Boy wasn’t good at.

 

He looked over at the new game table, noticing that the normal armchairs around it were against the built-in bookshelves full of games, which Bisabuela had also contributed. She was very excited to go through all the games in the store with Lance, discussing the ones she would play as a youth and comparing them to modern games. She insisted on buying two of every game they both liked: one for Lance to bring to school and one for her to have at her manor so his friends can play if they visit. Shiro loved game night much more than Mario Kart night, and insisted they did it more often. He was the king of Uno and loved coming up with new rules to make the game more of a challenge. 

 

‘Pfft, new rules? More like cheating,’ Lance thought to himself. 

 

“Is the Room bigger to you?” Keith asked, looking around the room to try to gauge the space.

 

Pidge was laying upside down on the couch, her feet over the back. “I feel like it probably got bigger, but not by much.”

 

Allura came strolling through the door, her silvery hair billowing behind her. Matt and Shiro followed, their arms both full of books. 

 

“Okay, bitches. Class is in session,” Allura grinned. 

 

“Fuck yeah!” Pidge shouted, and jumped off the couch and onto her feet. 

 

Shiro set his pile of books on the couch. “Language, Pidge!” 

 

“Cut it out, Space Dad, I’m here to learn fancy magic!” 

 

Allura interrupted any other discussion with a glare. “First rule, shut up when I’m talking.” 

 

“You weren’t talking yet,” Pidge sassed. 

 

Allura met her gaze with an eyebrow raised. “Second rule, any sass results in not getting to learn said ‘fancy magic.’”

 

Pidge put her hands up in surrender, “Okay, okay! Sass is over!” 

 

“Like that will happen,” Matt snorted. Lance and Hunk giggled with him. 

 

“Same goes for you, mister.” Allura said, not even looking over at them. “Now, everyone fall in line.” 

 

They all rushed to stand in a line where Allura had gestured and looked at her expectantly. 

 

“Can anyone tell me what type of charm a Patronus is?” 

 

The Holt siblings waved their hands around excitedly, trying to be noticed first. 

 

Allura ignored them. “Keith?” 

 

“A defense charm, one of the most powerful known to wizards,” Keith answered. Lance looked at him confused.

 

“Very good. And what does said charm defend against?” 

 

“Dementors!” Pidge shouted. 

 

Lance’s head turned toward her and cocked sideways. Demen-what nows? 

 

“And Leithfolds!” Hunk added. 

 

Now everyone looked at him, confused. Not just Lance. He shrugged, “You know, the flat, dark creature things that are like giant cloaks and prey on sleeping creatures at night?” Hunk was met with blank looks from all and continued. “The most dangerous and mysterious magical beast known to wizard-kind? It’s in  _ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _ .” 

 

“Huh,” Shiro said. “You’d think I would know about that one.” The group nodded in affirmation. 

 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lance shouted, waving his arms. “Hold up! What are the demented things? And creepy creatures? What does this have to do with friendly familiars?” 

 

“Friendly familiars?” Keith looked at him funny.

 

“What’s a familiar?” Hunk asked. 

 

“You know, like how all the witches in the movies and books have a little animal they can speak to that does stuff for them? Usually magical too? Keeps them company?” 

 

“Is that what you thought a Patronus was?” Allura questioned.

 

“Well, yeah! Bisabuela’s cat finds things for her and sends messages to her friends and keeps her company.” 

 

Matt whistled. “Damn, Bisabuela must be some witch to summon a Patronus at her age and keep it corporeal enough to just hang out.”

 

“You mean, that’s not what Patronuses are for?” 

 

“Not exactly,” Allura said. “I mean, they are an extension of your soul, and can be used to send messages and such, but their main purpose is as a defense against the Dementors. And apparently these cloak creature things.” She gave a weird look to Hunk, who shrugged. 

 

Lance looked at her blankly. “What are these demented things you keep speaking of?” 

 

They all stared at him for a moment and he sighed, used to the weird looks he got from his friends when he didn’t know some wizarding world thing. He pointed at himself, “Muggle, until like 3 years ago, guys,” He reminded them. 

 

Keith threw his hands up in the air, “I keep forgetting that you didn’t grow up in the wizarding world! You’re so damn smart and you caught up so fast.” 

 

Lance gaped at him. Keith rarely complimented him?

 

“What!” Keith glowered. “I’m telling the truth, don’t look at me like that.” 

 

Shiro’s warm hand fell on his shoulder. “Keith is right, we all forget that you didn’t even know about the wizarding world until a couple weeks before Hogwarts. You really have learned fast and thrived here.” 

 

“Yes,” Allura agreed, “He definitely has.” The others nodded in agreement with giant grins on their faces. 

 

Lance was trying desperately not to blush, and failing pathetically. “Someone want to tell me what the demented things are though?” 

 

“Have you heard about Azkaban, the wizard prison?” Pidge asked. 

 

Lance shook his head. “Not really? I’ve heard it mentioned in passing, but I don’t know what it is.” 

 

“Well,” Pidge continued, “It’s essentially an inescapable island made to trap the wizards who have done shitty things. Though, I’m pretty sure people have escaped…” 

 

Lance blinked at her in surprise.

 

“But that’s beside the point,” she said, waving it off. “Dementors guard Azkaban and feed on the prisoners’ happiness.  And if they are really awful, they will administer a ‘kiss’ which essentially sucks out the wizard’s soul and leaves them a husk of a person.” 

 

Lance felt shivers run down his spine. “That sounds like the one kiss I wouldn’t want to get.”

 

“Yeah, they are pretty freaky,” Matt chimed in. “I haven’t actually fully experienced one, but one time, when we were pretty young, dementors were hunting for a criminal in our neighborhood. We were all confined to our houses, but you could feel how dark they were.” 

 

Lance jumped as a hand touched his shoulder. He turned back to see Hunk and scooched closer to his bestie’s comforting presence. 

 

“Don’t worry, bud,” Hunk smiled down at him. “The chances you run into a dementor are like a bajillion times lower than running into a Leithfold.” 

 

“That’s not very reassuring, Hunk. Those things sound terrifying too.” Lance shuddered. 

 

Allura clapped her hands together, “Okay, now that Lance is caught up, let’s get to learning!” 

 

“Ravenclaws and learning…” Pidge scoffed.    
  


“You love learning,” Keith snarked. 

 

“Shut your whore mouth,” Pidge snapped back.

 

Shiro chimed in, “Language!” 

 

“Shut up, Space Dad!” 

 

“For the love of all things magical, stop calling me that!” 

 

“I’ll stop calling you that when you stop mooning- oof!” Pidge exclaimed as Matt elbowed her. 

 

“Let’s not out our poor Space Dad,” her older brother ruffled her hair. 

 

Pidge grumbled as Allura rolled her eyes and continued on with her lesson. 

 

“So in order to cast this spell, it is essential that you think of the happiest memory you have. The key to combating these demons of negative feelings is the joy you feel. So everyone take a minute to reflect on the time when you felt the happiest.” 

 

Lance squeezed his eyes shut and thought hard. His family was first in his thoughts, with their vivacious energy and love. Then, he thought of this group of friends and how much they cared for him. They lit up his life every day. He thought of Hogwarts and how much he enjoyed practicing magic. He thought of the feeling of flying through the air while playing Quidditch. 

 

He thought of how happy he was that Allura took time out of her busy schedule to teach their group complex spells for fun. He thought of how Matt always got his jokes and how brilliant he was. He thought of how smart, strong, and versatile of a leader Shiro was, and how it was such an honor to learn from one of the most gifted students at Hogwarts. He thought of how cunning Pidge was and how she teased him relentlessly and fulfilled so much of his life. He thought of Hunk’s calming energy, how he was the most amazing man alive, his rock, and his first friend at Hogwarts. 

 

He thought about Keith, who hadn’t known they were friends until Lance told him under the stars at the end of last year. How Keith still yelled at him, saying he was important and told him what he was good at, even when he thought Lance didn’t like him. How this impulsive boy cared so much about his friends, but didn’t think they cared about him. 

 

He thought of how great this year had been so far, with them being friends, and how their rivalry had melted into friendly competition. 

 

He thought of the matching friendship bracelets buried in the bottom of his trunk, and became more determined to give them to him. 

 

“When you can feel the happy thoughts bubbling up inside of you…” Allura’s voice softly broke the quiet, “It is time to say the incantation: Expecto Patronum.”

Lance concentrated on how his friends made him feel, on how happy he was to be a wizard.

He thought of Keith and- 

“Expecto Patronum!”

He heard Allura gasp, and he opened his eyes, blinking in the bright light of the figure in front of him.

There was a giant cat floating in the air, padding softly toward him.

Lance lifted his hand, amazed and joyous, reaching toward the bright, white light. It was a lion!

No, he thought, noticing the lack of a mane.

A lioness, the huntress.

Lance beamed at his Patronus, who was winding around his wand arm. He was enchanted by her regal face and sleek body. She was stunning and perfect and, if he was being honest, it was a bit surreal to think of her as an extension of his soul.

He grinned, looking up from the Patronus to his friends. Allura’s mouth was open and the rest of the group was staring at him.

Lance suddenly felt self-conscious and frowned. The change in mood caused his new friend to fade and disappear. “What? Is something wrong with my Patronus?” He asked defensively.

“No,” Allura gasped, sharing a look with Shiro. “I’ve just never seen anyone be able to produce a fully-formed Patronus on their first try. Especially since wizards don’t usually try this level of complicated magic until they are in their seventh year or beyond.”

Shiro walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You have to have really powerful magic and a firm grasp on what makes you happy, in order to accomplish this, Lance.”

Lance looked up at him in shock.

“We all knew you were a talented wizard, but this proves it even more!” Allura clapped her hands together in delight. “Amazing, Lance! And such a regal Patronus!”

Hunk was beaming and scooped him up in a hug. Pidge bounded over and jumped onto them. Matt walked over to join the group hug, a large grin on his face.

Lance looked up and saw Keith smiling softly across the room. When their eyes met, Keith’s smile slid into a smirk. “I told you that you were talented,” the boy mouthed to him.

Lance stuck his tongue out in return, drawing a chuckle from Keith.

 

\-----

Keith opened his eyes, huffing in frustration at the lack of, well… anything coming from his wand. The closest he had gotten to a Patronus was a little wisp of light once, and that had required reliving the moment when Shiro finally taught him to fly.

Why couldn’t he do this!?

He looked around, seeing all of his friends succeeding. Hunk’s bright yellow Labrador, who was an exact replica of his friendly dog at home named Yellow, was chasing around Lance’s lion.

Matt’s Manticore, which was a super unique Patronus and really fit him, was dancing around his wand.

Allura was smiling brightly as Shiro’s griffin sniffed at her regal phoenix.

Even Pidge had a little cat, who she had named Green after her house colors, draped over her shoulders.

And all he could produce was a fucking wisp of light. Once.

Now, he knew he was moody and broody. After all, Pidge did call him her Emo Friend for a reason. It was just too hard to think about any happy memories when all of them were tainted by how messed up he was.

His mom didn’t want him. His dad was so obsessed about his mom leaving that he drank himself to death and left Keith alone; because apparently having a son wasn’t a good enough reason to get over himself and get his shit together.

Sure, the Shiroganes were amazing and he thought of them as his new parents. Shiro was the best big brother he could ask for.

But it was hard to think about them without also thinking about the reason he met them. He could never shake the feeling that the people who brought him into this world, the people that were supposed to be there for him, didn’t want him. He was a burden.

He couldn’t even think of a happy enough thought to be on the same level as his friends. He wasn’t as good of a wizard and he didn’t belong in this group.

There was no way he could produce a Patronus.

Keith shoved his wand into the pocket of his jeans in frustration, the anger building up in his throat. He turned and slunk to the back of the room and up the spiral staircase.

He could feel the tears welling in his eyes as he booked it to the window seat he had claimed for his own. He threw himself on it, snatching up a blanket and wrapping it around himself.

Keith flipped it up over the top of his head and leaned against the window, curling up on himself.

His eyes blinked closed slowly and the tears came dripping down his face.

“Keith?”

He tried to wipe away the falling tears with the corner of his blanket.

Of course, Shiro had noticed something was wrong and followed him.

“I’m fine, Shiro. You didn’t need to come up here.”

He felt the cushion on the seat dip as Shiro sat down next to him. “Obviously you’re not fine. And of course I needed to check on you, you’re my brother.”

Keith didn’t say anything, still trying to get a hold of his emotions.

“Oh, Keith…” Shiro laid a hand on Keith’s shoulder and drew him into a hug. “It’s okay. It’s completely normal not to get the Patronus right away. I know our group of friends is a bad example, but it is super uncommon to be able to get it this quickly. Besides, I could see you producing some semblance!”

Keith scoffed and buried his face further into Shiro’s shoulder.

“You’re an amazing wizard, Keith and you know this. You kick so many people’s asses at flying and are at the top of your class in most subjects. You are a fantastic dueler because of your instincts. Don’t be worried about a complicated spell that you can’t get right away.”

“It’s not that,” Keith mumbled into Shiro’s shoulder.

“Then what is it?” Shiro inquired.

“I just…” Keith started.

He took a deep breath, thankful that Shiro was patient enough to just listen.

“I just struggle with thinking of a purely happy thought.”

Shiro squeezed him closer. “You’ve been dealt a bad hand in life and are still figuring things out! You’ve had so much to deal with and I know you haven’t come to terms with everything yet. But don’t fret. You can make so many happy memories, bud. You have so many happy memories. Don’t let them get tainted by your past.”

Keith felt the tears drip down his face into Shiro’s shirt.

“You know we all love you a lot and think of you as a dear friend. Instead of worrying about patterns of the past, think about how much we all care about you and how we want to protect your future.”

Keith thought back to that night on the Astronomy tower, under the stars.

The night where Lance had told him that, without a doubt, Keith was important to their friend group. That Lance was his friend and always would be.

And amidst the sadness that Keith was feeling, there was a small bubble of happiness.

 

\-----

 

Keith was laying on the fresh grass a few days later, his robes and sweater discarded somewhere, sleeves pushed up above his arms, tie loosened. His arms were thrown behind his head, the wind rustling through the tree above him singing him to sleep. Sometimes he heard murmured conversations or the laughter of students as they soaked up the last warm mornings of Autumn and waited for the Saturday trip to Hogsmeade. His eyes blinked open and closed sleepily, taking in the light filtering through the turning leaves. One fell and floated down onto him somewhere, but he was too content in his half-asleep state to care.

There were soft waves lapping at the shore of the lake, disturbed by the  _ plinks _ of Lance skipping rocks several feet away. Occasionally, there was a plop of the Great Squid’s tentacles as it slipped back into the water after dropping rocks off on the shore or Lance’s melodic chuckle.

Keith snorted, entertained by the fact that his friend had practically adopted the Giant Squid as a pet. The squid was quite shy but very playful, and of course, Lance had charmed it out of the depths of the water to play.

His friend had a tendency to be very charismatic and adopt things that liked to hide in the shadows of attention.

_ Friend. _

Keith smiled at the word. Ever since their conversation on the astronomy tower in the middle of last year, the two had settled into a content friendship. Naturally, they still bickered and had a rivalry going in most things, but it was bolstered by affection. This year had been much of the same so far, their friend group occasionally having to pull them apart, but arguments and competitions always ended in laughter.

Keith let his eyes flutter back closed and breathed a soft sigh of contentment.

He was sure he had drifted off for a while before shouts of his name drew him from his cat-nap.

“…Keith! Keith!” Someone was yelling.

Keith groaned and rubbed his hand over his eyes.

“Keith! Get up, you lazy fuck! I found something!” Pidge’s voice jolted him fully out of slumber.

Luckily, he sat up quickly and instinctually caught the girl as she tumbled into him.

Her sandy hair was reflecting the morning sunlight, her clothes all messy and eyes wild. A large book was chucked onto his lap.

“Oof! Pidge! Watch the goods!”

Pidge waved a paper in his face, “I don’t care about your dick, Keith. I think I found her!”

“Found who? Why are we talking about Keith’s dick?” Lance had wandered over at the commotion.

 

Keith stared at Pidge, his breath caught in his throat. “Really? You found her?” 

 

“Found who?” Lance repeated, trying to peer over their shoulders. 

 

Pidge cracked the book open, “I was reading through some of the old Slytherin family trees to try and find dirt on some of the assholes in my house, and…” 

 

“Someone want to fill me in here?!” Lance yelled. 

 

Pidge looked at Keith, her eyes full of understanding. “Do you want me to wait until later, or?” 

 

Keith sighed, “No, it’s fine. Everyone else knows, except maybe Allura. Though, I bet Shiro has filled her in some.” 

 

He turned to look up at Lance, a small, tentative smile on his face. “I’m actually surprised I haven’t talked to you about it yet. Wanna sit down?” 

 

Lance plopped down next to them and looked at Keith expectantly. 

 

Keith took a deep breath and looked out over the lake. As much as he hated talking about it, this was Lance, his roommate and one of his best friends. 

 

He swallowed, nervously. “So, I’m not actually a Shirogane by blood. I was adopted when I was eight years old. I was in an orphanage and had some magical outburst when I got angry. I accidentally threw a kid against the wall without touching them?” 

 

Keith ignored how intently Lance was staring at him and leaned into the hand Pidge placed on his shoulder. 

 

“So the Shiroganes came and adopted me, and then explained that I was a wizard. It was pretty shocking and I definitely broke one of their priceless vases in anger at some point. Mom and Dad were very understanding and loving, making sure that I felt accepted as if I was their own. But if it weren’t for Shiro, I probably would be a lot worse.” 

 

He could see Lance nodding and reaching out with a hand, before pausing and letting it flop onto the grass. Keith smiled softly, glad Lance wanted to support him, but was cautious about what ways would be unwelcome. 

“It was just hard to fit into a family at first because I remembered my dad. He was definitely a Muggle and had no magic in him. He…” Keith felt the sorrow well up in his chest. It had been a while since he had thought about his birth dad. He blinked fast, trying to quell the unwanted tears. 

“He loved me very much but we were always moving around because he was looking for my mom, which doesn’t make things great for a five-year-old. When I was born, the doctors had put me in his arms and lead him toward a different room to clean me up. When he returned, my mom was…”

Keith felt a tear slide down his cheek and avidly reached for Lance’s hand. His warm fingers latched onto his, and Pidge tightened her grip on his shoulder. He sniffled, reaching up with his free hand to brush away the tear. 

He took a deep breath and tried to continue. “She was missing. Dead, they said, from the result of having me. But there wasn’t a body.”

 

Lance’s hand tightened around his, offering silent support. Pidge scooched closer to his back and buried her face there. 

 

Keith took a moment to breathe, swallowing down tears and the traitorous thoughts that his mother’s supposed death was his fault. 

“My dad, who knew she was a witch and that her family disapproved of their relationship, believed that she got taken by them and magic was used to cover their asses. He then spent the first five years of my life moving from place to place, frantically searching for her.”

His breath hitched, knowing what he had to say next, and he couldn’t contain the tears leaking out from his eyes. 

“He began to drink a lot from stress, and one morning I woke up to find him passed out in the bathroom, barely breathing. Luckily, we were staying in a motel, so I ran to the front desk and they called an ambulance. And Lance, he…” There were streams of tears running down his face, “He didn’t make it to the hospital. Alcohol poisoning.”

Keith felt Lance lean over and pull him into a hug. Pidge did the same on the other side, her little arms squeezing tightly around him. He looked up and met Lance’s blue eyes.

There was water welling up in them. “You were only five?” he asked.

Keith shook his head. “I turned six the next day when they brought me to the orphanage.”

The arms around him tightened.

Pidge pulled back, continuing the story. “So after I unlocked level four of friendship and heard Keith’s tragic backstory,” Keith snorted at that, “we began looking for Keith’s mom in wizarding lines.”

Keith turned to Lance, who was still holding him close. “If anything, I just want to know if she is actually dead or alive.”

Lance pulled back, letting his arms drop, and nodded. “I get that. Well, Pidge, what did you find, then?”

Pidge smiled and squeezed Keith’s shoulder again before cracking open the book. “I don’t know why I didn’t think to look into Slytherin Pureblood lines before, because it would make sense why they would be angry with her for having a kid out of wedlock with a Muggle. But here, look.”

She shoved the book closer and Keith looked down. On the page was a family tree with pictures. At the bottom was a woman, who ended the line. A note in the margins read ‘Disappeared for three years, and then found at a Muggle hospital, very ill. Hasn’t been seen outside the manor since.”

Keith looked at the picture, his breath catching in his throat. Her eyes…

“Dude, she looks so much like you. You have the same grey, almost purple, eyes,” Lance said, peering over his shoulder.

Pidge looked at him weirdly, “How much time do you spend looking at his eyes?”

“Uhhh…” Lance stammered. “I meant that I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!! Look! Her hair does the thing!”

Pidge rolled her eyes, “Save your flirting for later, you heathens.”

Keith was still staring at the picture, barely hearing their exchange. The story matched up, and Lance was right to point out that they had the same eyes. But if she was still alive and in the wizarding world that would mean…

He slammed the book shut, making Lance and Pidge jump.

“Well even if she is still alive, it’s obvious she wanted nothing to do with us. Me.” He could feel the anger rising in his chest. “She was a witch, she could have come and found us in those six years. Or come and found me after my dad drank himself to death.”

He stood abruptly, ignoring Pidge’s and Lance’s open-mouthed gazes. He was breathing heavily, feeling the need to punch something. “I’m not a pureblood and was a mistake.”

Keith clenched his jaw, his fists tightening by his side. “She probably hated me for being born.”

His vision was blurring and his hands were shaking. He needed to get out of there, get away from his friends’ sympathetic faces. He didn’t want their sympathy. He didn’t want a mother who didn’t care about him. He didn’t want a mother who hated his existence.

He couldn’t handle being by that hurtful book or his friend’s pity.

So he stomped away, ignoring their calls behind him.

 

\------

 

Lance stared after Keith, the anger he felt clearly displayed in the tense lines of his posture and the way he stormed off, and knew he needed to do something. He picked up the book and gave it back to Pidge. “I- I gotta- I’m gonna-”

 

“Go get him!” Pidge blurted.

 

“Right.” Lance scrambled up and ran after his roommate. “Keith!” he yelled. He wasn’t sure if Keith heard so he yelled again, louder. “Keith!”

 

Keith definitely heard him that time. How did Lance know? Because he started running faster and changed course, heading for the forbidden forest. 

 

“Oh son of a- Where are you going, Asshole?! Get your angsty butt back here! Do not go into the-”

 

Keith reached the treeline and kept going, further into the shadows of the forest.

 

“Of course he did. It’s called ‘forbidden’ for a reason!” Lance yelled uselessly after him. He paused for a moment but Keith didn’t suddenly turn around and come back, ready to admit that recklessly running into the forbidden forest to avoid his emotions was a dumb thing to do, so Lance sighed and started running again. “If I get murdered by magical giant spiders it’s on your head!” he called into the dim light. There was no sign of Keith ahead of him but Lance thought he could hear him just up ahead.

 

After several more minutes of ‘hearing Keith just up ahead,’ Lance was ready to admit that maybe trusting the obvious in a magical murder forest was a dumb thing to do, but not as dumb as running into said murder forest to avoid his problems.

 

He was also ready to admit that he might be lost.

 

He stopped running and looked around while he tried to catch his breath, taking in the area around him. There was a small cliff up ahead, almost obscured by a cluster of gnarly looking trees and some bushes. If Lance had kept running he probably wouldn’t have noticed it until he’d fallen off the edge.

 

“Keith, come on!” he yelled. “If I miss the Hogsmeade visit because I’m still trying to find you I’m gonna be mad!” There was the sound of something snapping and Lance flinched, spinning around to make sure nothing was behind him. “And if I miss the Hogsmeade visit because I died while trying to find you I’ll be even more mad,” he said nervously. “Mad and… dead.”

 

He turned back around and crept forward towards the cliff. He was pretty sure the sound had come from over there? He was just going to peak over the edge and if he couldn’t see Keith he was going to turn around and go back to the castle. Keith was a big kid. He could take care of himself.

 

He cautiously peered over the edge, being careful not lean too far forward.

 

There were people down there but none of them were Keith. Lance didn’t recognize any of them actually. They were moving crates but he couldn’t tell what was in them, so he risked a small step closer to the edge, trying to see better. 

 

“What the-” a hand clamped down over his mouth and an arm wrapped around his waist. Lance’s immediate instinct was to scream- to struggle- but the person holding him was strong and pinched his nose shut at the last second. They hauled him away from the edge and all Lance could think as he was being pulled down by one of the bushes was ‘I hope Keith doesn’t run into this psychopath.’

 

“Lance,” the person holding him hissed. “Lance!”

 

Lance instantly stopped struggling, eyes widening in realization.

 

The person let go and Lance turned around and punched them- Keith, because of course Keith was the psychopath- in the shoulder. “You asshole!” he whispered harshly. “What the fuck?!”

 

“Sshh!” Keith placed his hand over Lance’s mouth again and held a finger to his lips. “What? Was I supposed to let you fall and let them do whatever they wanted with you?!”

 

Lance pulled back and glared for a moment before crawling to the edge of the bush so he could look down at the people working below. “What are they doing?”

 

“Don’t know,” Keith joined him, crouching so close behind Lance that he could feel his body heat. “But it looks really sketchy.”

 

Lance tried to muffle his snort. “That much is a given. Do you recognize any of them?”

 

Lance felt Keith shake his head- really did he have to be that close?- “No. None of-” he stopped talking and placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder to lean forward even more. “Wait. That guy in the purple was in the newspaper a little while ago. Wanted.”

 

“For what? Fashion advice? He really knows how to work his colors.”

 

Keith flicked him in the ear and Lance tried not to let out the offended noise poised on his tongue.

 

“No, you nerdwad. Smuggling.”

 

“That’s a thing in the wizarding world? What do you smuggle? Magical LSD?”

 

“What? No. Potions. Animals. I dunno, I’m not a smuggler.”

 

“Neither am I! I still know what smugglers smuggle!”

 

“Say smuggle one more time I dare you.”

 

“Smu-”

 

Keith clamped a hand over Lance’s mouth  _ again _ and Lance was about to bite it just so he’d  _ stop doing that _ when he noticed what Keith was suddenly alert for.

 

Lotor was strolling onto the scene. 

 

Lance thought, for a brief naive moment, that the smugglers would grind to a halt and either come up with some fake story or do something horrible to save their cover, but they didn’t. 

 

They did all stop, but they looked at Lotor with casual respect. “How’d it go?” the man in purple asked.

 

“Well,” Lotor answered. “The next shipment should go out with no problems. How about your end of things?”

 

Lance pulled Keith’s hand away from his mouth but he didn’t let go, opting instead to squeeze it tightly. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “Holy shit, Keith, holy shit!”

 

“Sh!”

 

“Bit slow. Don’t suppose you could find a way to get us any more supplies?”

 

“I’ll see what I can do.”

 

If Lance thought he was losing his mind before, he almost flipped his shit when another familiar face made an appearance.

 

He heard Keith inhale sharply behind him but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the new arrival.

 

“Zarkon,” Keith hissed. Keith’s grip on Lance’s hand was almost painful but he didn’t pay it any attention.

 

Professor Zarkon made his way around the gathered smugglers, looking in crates and sizing up the people. When he got to Lotor he looked him up and down and stared at his face for a long hard moment before giving a slight nod.

 

“Not bad,” He said.

 

Lance felt Keith tense and prepare to move. He could feel the pending forward momentum, so he threw his weight back, effectively pinning Keith to the forest floor by laying on him.

 

“What are you doing?” Keith hissed, trying to shove Lance off of him.

 

“Saving your reckless ass from doing something stupid, like going down there to confront a gang of smugglers!”

 

“We can’t just let them get away with whatever they’re doing, Lance! If Zarkon’s involved it can’t be good.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?!” He quickly flipped onto his stomach and sat up so he could center his weight on Keith’s stomach, straddling him in a way that would be embarrassing if he weren’t so busy being tense and nervous. He grabbed Keith’s wrists and held them down so he could look him directly in the eye. “I hate Zarkon and his shitstain son just as much as you, Keith. Probably more. But we cannot go down there guns blazing without any idea what’s actually going on. So here’s the plan: We are going to shut up and go back to the castle so we can make a plan and maybe get help. We are not going to go down there armed with two wands and less than four years of magical training, and we are not going to publicly confront either of them about this until we know more. Got it?”

 

Keith glowered at him but he didn’t try to shake Lance off, so he tried again.

 

“Got it?”

 

Keith sighed and let his head fall back to the ground with a dull thunk. “Yeah. I got it.”

 

“Good. Now let’s get out of here without dying, yeah?”

 

They both stood up and moved as quietly as they could away from the cliff. When Lance deemed they were far enough away to not be heard he heaved a sigh. “Also, the next time you cover my mouth with your hand, I’m biting it.”

 

“I wouldn’t have to do that if you didn’t make so much noise when we have to be quiet.”

 

“Says the guy who was about to launch himself off a cliff to fight a gang of criminals!” Lance’s voice got a bit too loud and scared a flock of birds out of a tree behind them.

 

They both whirled around at the noise before looking at each other. “Maybe,” Lance ventured. “We should just focus on getting out of here without alerting said criminals that we were ever here.”

 

“That’s a good plan. I like that plan,” Keith said. “Run?”

 

“Run.”

 

Lance was beginning to regret his ‘good plan.’ Keith was a lot faster than Lance and keeping up was hard, but not impossible while they were in the confines of the forest. Between the trees and the fact that he was pretty sure Keith was deliberately slowing down for him, he just about managed.

 

As soon as they were out of the forest though Keith shot off at an unreachable pace.

 

“Keith! Stop tearing ahead of me!” Lance shouted, scampering after him. 

 

“We need to tell someone, Lance. We can’t just let Zarkon get away with this.” Keith was seething, his feet stomping along the path back towards the castle. 

 

Lance, dug deep and found a very well-hidden bit of willpower which he used to surge forward and catch up with Keith. He grabbed his wrist, stopping them in the middle of the path, and spun Keith to face him. “Take a breath for a second, Space Cadet.” 

 

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” 

 

His hands flew up in surrender, “I didn’t,  I’m just trying to get you to think logically for a second.” 

 

Keith huffed and then compiled, taking a deep breath with Lance. 

 

“Okay, so we can’t go barreling into the castle, saying that one of the teachers and his son are smugglers. It’s our word against theirs and everyone knows how much we dislike Zarkon. We have no proof. Besides, that criminal that was with him is still lurking around the grounds,” Lance processed out loud. 

 

“What do we do then?” Keith exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. 

 

“I feel like we should tell our friends. Allura will know what to do!” 

 

Keith nodded in agreement, his jaw set, and then turned to continue storming down the path. 

 

“Whoa, whoa there, Keithy-boy.” Lance grabbed his shoulder, holding him back. “I just said that the criminal is probably still lurking.” They both looked around as though the criminal would come charging at them out of the magic murder forest at any moment. Lance continued, “Let’s walk calmly and go find our friends by the Hogsmeade path.” 

 

Keith nodded and they began to stroll in a false-calm toward the back of the castle. He squinted at the sun. “They probably left by now, but we can catch the last group and go find them.” 

 

Lance nodded and they continued in silence for several moments. 

 

Sure enough, the tail end of the last group was already walking down the path toward Hogsmeade and Professor Coran was waving at them to hurry up. 

 

“Allura, Shiro, and all them already left! They asked me to tell you that they will probably go to Honeydukes first.” 

 

Lance shouted “Thanks, Professor Coran!” and the two boys took off down the path to catch up with the group. 

 

Once they fell into the end, both shared a look, agreeing to stay in the back so they could plan quietly. 

 

“You know we can’t tell them at Hogsmeade, right?” Lance asked. 

 

Keith nodded, “Too many people. Maybe we can just tell them we found something and ask to meet in the Room of Requirement later?” 

 

“Sounds good to me. There is nothing we can do today, anyway. We need to get Allura’s opinion and go from there.” 

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” 

 

They walked, listening to the chatter of the group in front of them. 

 

“Lance…” Keith started, and then trailed off awkwardly. 

 

He looked over at his friend, whose eyes were downcast, watching his feet kick a pebble along the path. 

 

“Yes, Mullet?” Lance smirked, determined to egg him enough to get him out of the funk. 

 

Predictably, Keith’s head snapped up to glare at Lance. “I told you not to call me that!” 

 

“I’ll stop calling you that when you stop having one!” 

 

“I don’t have one!” 

 

Lance nudged Keith’s shoulder with his own and grinned down at him. “You keep telling yourself that, Keithy-boy.” 

 

His affronted expression softened a bit. “Thank you for coming after me Lance, and- and thank you for being there to hear my story.” Keith looked back down at his shoes. “It means a lot to me that you are my friend.” 

 

Lance stopped in the middle of the road, right at the entrance to Hogsmeade, as the group of students in front of them broke off to go do their own thing. 

 

Keith stopped with him, his eyes still downcast as though he was waiting for Lance to say they weren’t friends. 

 

“Keith, I-” Lance shook his head and tried again. “As I said last year, of course we are friends.” 

 

Keith was smiling softly in the middle of the road, the sun glinting off his hair. 

 

Lance suddenly remembered the bracelets burning a hole in the pocket of his jeans. He frantically pulled them out, struggling to grab both, and presented them to Keith with a “ta-da!” 

 

No turning back now. 

 

Keith stared at the two tangled thread bracelets, his violet eyes wide. “What are they?” 

 

Lance swallowed, suddenly nervous. “Friendship bracelets, silly!” he said, his voice faking bravado. “I made them for us, well mainly for you.” 

 

“You know, I’m not really a jewelry person…” Keith trailed off looking sheepish. 

 

Lance’s heart fell, a thick pit forming in his stomach. “It’s cool, you don’t have to wear it,” and he began to tuck them back into his jeans. 

 

Keith’s hand snatched out to grab one out of his closing hand, “No, I’m going to wear it forever. Back off.” 

 

Then Lance was soaring, the nerves disappearing rapidly. “Here, let me tie it on for you! Which wrist do you want it on?” 

 

Keith deposited it back into his hand. “Probably my right wrist so it doesn’t get tangled when I write.” 

 

He held out his wrist and Lance tied it on with care.  

 

Lance admired the way the red, blue, and purple threads glinted in the sunlight. 

 

“Let me tie yours on for you,” Keith said, his face determined. 

 

Lance shook himself out of his stupor and looked down at his wrists. His right wrist, his dominant hand, was full of different threaded bracelets from his siblings. His left was open, and was usually kept that way. 

 

He held out his left wrist without hesitation. 

 

“You don’t want it with all your other bracelets?” Keith asked. 

 

Lance grinned, meeting his eyes, “No, because yours is special. I want it on my non-dominant hand too.” 

 

Keith’s smile was blinding as he tied the bracelet around his wrist, his fingers brushing the soft skin there.

 

They both pulled away and stared at each other, grinning like the pair of dorks they were. 

 

“There,” Lance said softly, taking a small step toward his roommate, “now when you are worried about having friends, you just have to look down and see that I am always your friend and will be there for you. It’s like a reminder!” 

 

Lance was surprised to see Keith’s eyes filling with tears and then Keith was flinging his arms around Lance’s neck, hugging him close. Lance automatically wrapped his arms around Keith’s back. 

 

He smiled, pulling the smaller boy closer and squeezing tight, his head resting on top of the mop of black hair. 

 

Lance murmured into his hair, “We will always be friends, don’t worry.” 

 

Keith hugged him close for a few more moments and then pulled back, disentangling himself from Lance’s arms. 

 

He had a sheepish look on his face and his cheeks were slightly flushed. “Sorry for just throwing myself at you.” 

 

Lance grinned and ruffled his hair. “We’re friends! You can demand hugs at any point, it’s one of the friendship perks of being my friend.” 

 

The blush faded from Keith’s face, “Thanks Lance, I really mean it.” 

 

“I know, Space Cadet. Thanks for being my friend too.” Lance looked out into the small village, “Now let’s stop hugging in the middle of the street and go find our friends!” 

 

\------

 

“Okay, Gryffindorks,” Pidge leaned forward from her place on the couch. “Why did you call this meeting?” 

 

Hunk set down the tray of tea supplies and snacks on the center of the coffee table, looking around at his group of friends. Matt was bouncing on the couch next to Pidge, and Shiro blushing deeply in an armchair because Allura was sitting on the floor by his feet and leaning her head onto his leg. Keith was slumped in the other armchair, Lance perched on one of the arms. 

 

“Okay, so after Keith’s angsty butt ran straight for the magic murder forest and I followed him…” Lance started. 

 

“Wait,” Hunk interrupted, plopping down next to Pidge on the couch, “why was Keith angsty and running toward the forest?” 

 

Lance waved off his question, “Not pertinent, he’s back to his normal level of emo currently.” 

 

Keith smacked him, almost knocking him off the armrest, a bracelet jumping on his wrist. 

 

Hunk grinned. Lance had finally given him the friendship bracelet!

 

Shiro noticed too. “Keith, what are you wearing on your wrist? That’s new.” 

 

Keith looked at his right wrist surprised and then looked up at Lance. “He made it for me,” Keith shrugged, a small, dopey smile spreading across his face. 

 

Allura squealed, “Friendship bracelets! I love those! That’s super sweet of you Lance!” 

 

Shiro raised an eyebrow, “So you two admit you’re actually friends now, instead of some stupid frenemy thing?” 

 

Matt snorted, “I rue the day Shiro uses the word ‘frenemy.’” 

 

Shiro chucked an extra throw cushion at Matt which beamed him in the head, causing him to squeak hilariously. 

 

Lance grinned down at Keith, “Of course we are friends! And I made it so that he always remembers that.” 

 

Hunk leaned over to Pidge, “That doesn’t sound like normal-level friendship bracelets to me.” 

 

Pidge whispered back, “No, it’s pretty gay.” 

 

“They are more like boyfriend bracelets. I have to throw away the one I started for Keith now.” 

 

Pidge snorted and addressed the giggling group, “Okay, friendship bracelets aside, what was so urgent? Unless it was these super gay matching bracelets,” her eyebrow raised. 

 

Keith’s blush started rising on his face, his eyebrows scrunching together, and he glared at Pidge. 

 

“That wasn’t- we wanted to tell-,” Lance stammered. “Just leave the bracelets alone, Pidge!” 

 

“It is about the smuggling ring Zarkon and Lotor are running in the Forbidden Forest!” Keith shouted, his face still red. 

 

“The what?” Allura asked, shocked. 

 

Shiro was looking at them concerned, Matt’s mouth was hanging wide open, and Pidge cocked her head curiously. Hunk’s cookie stopped halfway to his mouth. 

 

Lance rested a hand on Keith’s arm, effectively calming him down a little bit. “When I followed Keith into the forest, we stumbled across a smuggling ring down in the baby valley in there.” He shared a look with Keith. “He recognized the snazzy-dressing smuggler from the fancy wizard papers.” 

 

Matt made eye contact with Pidge and they both mouthed ‘Fancy wizard papers.’

 

“Surripo?” Shiro asked. 

 

Keith nodded, “Yeah. He was there with a bunch of people. Lotor and Zarkon came strolling into the camp and it sounded like they were supplying goods to them.” 

 

“We couldn’t get a good look at what exactly they were smuggling, because it was all in crates. But it was definitely them.”

 

“Did they see you?” Shiro looked ready to spring out of his seat. 

 

“No,” Lance answered. “I managed to hold our resident hot-head off.” 

 

Keith smacked him again. 

 

Lance snatched his arm away, “Ouch, buttnut! Stop hitting me!” 

 

“I’ll stop hitting you when you-” 

 

Shiro cut him off. “About how many people were down there?” 

 

Lance turned his attention back to the group. “I’d say about seven others, but they didn’t seem to be in charge at all. This Syrup-o guy was running the show.” 

 

“Surripo,” Keith corrected. 

 

“That’s what I said, get off my back,” Lance snarked back. 

 

“Focus, boys. This is important,” Shiro interrupted again. 

 

Allura leaned forward, her voice pointed. “Any other details you can think of? Anything printed on the sides of the crates?” 

 

Keith shook his head, “No, they were blank. Nothing on their clothes to indicate, either. They are definitely wizards though.” 

 

“I wonder what they could be smuggling out of Hogwarts…” Matt trailed off. 

 

“So what should we do?” Lance asked. 

 

“We should tell-” 

 

“We need to research-” 

 

Hunk and Allura looked at each other. 

 

“You go first, Hunk,” Allura said kindly. 

 

“We really should tell a professor,” Hunk declared, looking around the room. 

 

Allura shook her head, “Unfortunately, there was no proof gathered and it would be their word against Zarkon’s. And Father has to give the teachers the benefit of the doubt.” 

 

Shiro nodded in agreement, “Headmaster Alfor wouldn’t be able to do much without proof.” 

 

“So we need to get proof,” Pidge theorized. 

 

“How do we do that?” Hunk asked, his hands shaking a bit at the idea of dealing with smugglers. 

 

“We probably will need to go back into the forest,” Matt answered, his eyes flashing as he calculated all the options. “Keith and Lance, do you think you could find your way back to the clearing?” 

 

Lance poked Keith, who shrugged. “Yeah, I probably would be able to lead us back.” 

 

Allura leaned forward and slammed her fist on the coffee table, jostling the tea. “It’s settled then. Tomorrow after breakfast, we will go look for the clearing.”

 

\-------

 

Lance yawned and rubbed his hands over his face. “When you said ‘after breakfast,’ I didn’t think it would be this early.”

 

“It’s nine o’clock,” Shiro deadpanned.

 

“Yeah. On a Sunday.”

 

“I’m with Lance,” Matt said. “Surely we could have slept in a little. Smugglers need to sleep too.”

 

“Don’t humanize them. We’re trying to take them down,” Keith said, earning a sharp look from Lance.

 

“You know who else needs sleep?” he said loudly. He didn’t miss Keith rolling his eyes and looking away. “Me! That’s who! You know who can’t sleep when his roommate pulls all the blankets off of his bed when he’s wrapped up in them? That’s also me!”

 

“I told you to get up five times.”

 

“So you just yank all of the bedding off my bed and me with it?!”

 

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

 

“You sure are suddenly energetic for someone who was complaining about being tired a minute ago,” Hunk said with obviously feigned disinterest.

 

“That’s because my honor’s been challenged, Hunk!” 

 

“Wha- How?!” Keith cried.

 

“Don’t question the man!” Matt defended. “It’ll further challenge his honor!”

 

“Yes! Thank you, Matt!”

 

Pidge groaned. “It’s too early for this shit.”

 

“See?!” Lance gestured to her with a wildly flailed hand.

 

“Pidge is always tired, that doesn’t count!”

 

“I will push both of you off of this cliff when we find it and I will not regret it,” Allura grumbled. “It will be a miracle if we even make it there before something eats us, if for no other reason than to stop your yelling.”

 

Keith and Lance both snapped their jaws shut with audible clicks.

 

Allura smiled, pleased with herself, and looped her arm through Shiro’s, pulling him forward with an obvious spring in her step and paying no mind to Shiro’s clearly flustered state.

 

The cliff didn’t feel nearly as far away as it did the day before, but that could have just been due to the fact that Lance didn’t feel like he was just getting hopelessly lost the whole time they were walking.

 

“You guys call this a cliff?” Pidge said dubiously, peering over the edge.

 

“Yeah. What would you call it?” Lance asked defensively.

 

“A ledge. Maybe. It’s way too short to be a cliff.”

 

“It’s a tall ledge,” Hunk said, patting Lance on the shoulder.

 

Pidge snorted. “Sure. We’re just climbing down, yeah? Or did you want to stop and make a game plan first?” She looked at Shiro for an answer who shrugged.

 

“Getting down there at all sounds like a good first step.” And then, demonstrating why he was often referred to as their leader, he crouched and started climbing down the cliff. “Just make sure we all get down there alright,” he added, shooting a look to Lance and Keith.

 

Lance scoffed. “Frankly I am astounded that you would even imply such a thing, Shiro! I have never done anything that did not demonstrate my grace and ability to-”

 

“Hey, Lance,” Keith interrupted.

 

“What?” Lance said, clearly put off at the sudden halt to his dramatics.

 

“Bet I can get down there faster than you.”

 

Lance blinked at him, momentarily thrown off, and took in the confident quirk to Keith’s lips, the challenge in his eyes, and that was all it took. “Oh, you’re on, Mullet!”

 

“Racing down this cliff is the exact opposite of what I just told you to do!” Shiro cried but Lance ignored him. 

 

“So you think it is a cliff?” Matt asked but Lance ignored him too.

 

He wasn’t going to pass this up. Keith was finally returning a challenge. It wasn’t Lance making a competition out of nothing. It wasn’t Keith going along with Lance just to get him to shut up. It was Keith reaching out to Lance the same way Lance had been trying to reach out to him since first year.

 

No way was he going to say ‘I think we should approach this safely and with caution.’

 

Keith probably didn’t even know what caution was.

 

They were fairly even most of the way down, and Lance was thrilled, a thread of excitement pulling tighter through his spine the whole time he was climbing.

 

And then, Keith, like an absolute madman, let go and let himself drop to the ground once he deemed himself far enough down.

 

“You cheat!” Lance cried. “You absolute cheat! Where’s your Gryffindor sense of honor!?”

 

“Buried under my Gryffindor courage!” 

 

Lance could hear the grin in Keith’s voice, the blatant pride which was also a Gryffindor trait, no matter how much Slytherin tried to insist they cornered the market on pride, and turned as much as he dared to tell Keith exactly where he could shove his courage. 

 

Unfortunately, when he turned, the rock he was holding came loose and the momentum of his movement prevented him from adjusting his balance. He wasn’t even sure if he managed to scream before the sudden sensation of falling shocked the air from his lungs.

 

He wouldn’t die from the fall, not from that height, he knew, but it was still scary. So when he crashed into something that felt decidedly un-ground like, and then he and the thing he landed on fell a few feet more to land on something that really did feel an awful lot like the ground, he was momentarily bewildered.

 

“Merlin’s beard, Lance! Are you alright?” Keith’s voice said, breathlessly from beneath him.

 

Lance turned as much as the arms around him would allow and found that the un-ground like thing he had landed on turned out to be Keith. 

 

“Lance?”

 

“Are you okay?” Lance asked, alarmed.

 

Keith looked perplexed. “I just asked you that. You’re the one that fell.”

 

“Yeah, and you caught me! I’m not light!” he cried.

 

“You’re not heavy either. I’m going to assume you’re fine since you’re not saying you aren’t.”

 

“Yeah I’m fine I-” Lance sat up and scooted over to allow Keith room to do the same. “Jeez, I can’t believe you actually caught me.”

 

“Are you doubting my catching skills?”

 

Lance honestly couldn’t tell if Keith was serious or if he was trying to make light of the situation. He himself felt about two seconds away from losing it, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that Keith had picked up on that and was trying to diffuse him.

 

Lance moved to run his hands through his hair but stopped short when he realized he had something in his hand. He looked down at it, then up at Keith, who was staring at him with a faux accusatory expression on his face which almost hid the concern in his eyes.

 

“Here, I got you something,” Lance said, holding out his hand.

 

Keith blinked and looked down, holding out his own hand palm up. “What is it?”

 

“A rock.” Lance placed the rock in Keith’s hand- the rock that had come out of the cliff face and caused him to fall- and smiled up at him. “A trophy for your catching skills.”

 

“Is this-”

 

“Lance! Keith! Are you guys okay?!” Hunk cried, running over to them as soon as he was safely on the ground.

 

“That looked like it could’ve been really nasty. Are either of you hurt?” Allura was right behind him.

 

“We’re fine,” Lance said after giving Keith a brief once over. “It’ll take a lot more than falling off a cliff to take me out, and Keith here can use a good catching exercise every once in a while. Gotta keep those seeker skills sharp.”

 

“You’re a lot bigger than a snitch,” Pidge deadpanned.

 

“I thought you were doing one of those muggle things,” Matt said.

 

“What muggle things?” Keith asked as he stood up, absently reaching to pull Lance up as well when he stuck his hands out.

 

“One of these,” Lance said, turning fluidly once Keith had pulled him to his feet and falling back with his arms spread out. “Trust fall!” he yelled.

 

Keith reacted on instinct, lunging to catch Lance under the arms and keep him from falling again.

 

“Hey, nice catch, Mullet!” he grinned.

 

“What the hell was that?!” Keith cried, pushing Lance to his feet again, much less gentle this time.

 

“It’s called a trust fall. You hold your arms out and fall when you’re around your friends because you trust them to catch you. Usually you do it when they’re busy or not paying attention because it’s funny to see them flailing to catch you but you do always run the risk of getting dropped. I didn’t realize it was just a muggle thing though.”

 

“I’ve never done it or seen it,” Shiro said.

 

Next to him, Matt grinned and threw his arms out. “Shiro, trust fall!”

 

There was a flash of panic visible on Shiro’s face for a moment before he hurried to catch Matt, managing it just in time.

 

Matt cackled and tilted his head back to look up at him. “And now you’ve seen it and done it!”

 

Shiro leveled a flat look at him and then let go, watching with disinterest as Matt landed sprawled out on the ground with a shocked “Woah!” followed by a groan.

 

“See what you’ve started?” he asked Lance. “He’s gonna do that all year now.”

 

Lance grinned. “And you’re such a good friend you’ll catch him every time.”

 

Shiro rolled his eyes and stepped over Matt to go look around the clearing. “Oh I’ll catch him. And then I’ll drop him. Every. Time.”

 

“Shiro!” Matt sat up quickly, a scandalously wounded expression on his face. “How could you?”

 

Lance laughed and helped Matt up. They both knew Shiro would catch Matt and the odds of him actually dropping him every time were slim to none. It was just so fun to pester him sometimes.

 

“So are we just looking for anything that doesn’t seem like it would belong in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest?” Keith asked.

 

Lance turned to look at him as he spoke and noticed he wasn’t holding the rock anymore. He idly wondered what he’d done with it but decided it wasn’t worth putting that much effort into thinking about as long as it didn’t show up again under his pillow or something.

 

“Pretty much,” Shiro answered. “There’s not really a lot else we can do seeing as we don’t really know what they were doing. Let’s start at the edges and work our way in.”

 

And so the little group set about combing through the entire clearing inch by agonizing inch. It wasn’t that huge but when you didn’t know what you were looking for, anything could be a clue, and when anything could be a clue, then everything needed looked at.

 

And when everything needed looked at- well... It took a while.

 

“I’m exhausted,” Hunk groaned, dropping to the ground in the middle of the clearing once everyone had finished examining it.

 

“You said it, Buddy,” Lance flopped next to him, ignoring the way some blades of grass tickled at his ear.

 

“What time is it?” Pidge asked, leaning heavily against Keith.

 

“Almost noon,” Allura said after glancing at her watch.

 

“We spent three hours looking at grass?!” Matt wailed. He dropped to his knees and then sprawled out on his stomach. “I could have finished half my homework by now!” His words were muffled by dirt and grass, but he didn’t move.

 

“Like you would’ve been doing homework before noon on a Sunday,” Shiro kicked lightly at Matt’s feet.

 

“Ravenclaw rule number one,” Pidge recited. “I’d rather be doing anything other than what I’m supposed to be doing, even if what I’m supposed to be doing is something I enjoy.”

 

“You’re a Slytherin,” Keith pointed out.

 

“She’s right though,” Hunk replied.

 

“You’re a Hufflepuff!”

 

“He’s right though!” Matt said, sitting up finally.

 

Keith threw his hands in the air.

 

“Well I hope you’ve all enjoyed your break, cause if we want to get back to the castle in time for lunch then we’d better get going.” Allura said.

 

“I’m up!” Matt said, surging to his feet.

 

“That’s the spirit!” Shiro clapped him on the back. “Hold on to that enthusiasm. You’ll need it to climb up that cliff.”

 

They all groaned, having forgotten about that particular part of their journey.

 

Great. 

 

Lance was never going adventuring in the magic murder forest again.

 

\------

 

Pidge stared down at the schedule in her hand, rolling her eyes. Only Lance would figure out Lotor’s schedule, match it to when individuals in their squad were free, and write up a ‘when people are going to follow Lotor’ chart. That boy was so damn intelligent, in the weirdest ways. 

 

She scooped up her book bag from the floor of the classroom and followed the stream of students out into the hallway. 

 

Her eye immediately caught on Lotor’s obnoxiously bright white hair and she peered behind him to see a completely obvious Lance and Keith trailing him. Lance seemed to be doing something weird with his hands, as they were clasped together with his pointer finger to the sky, and he kept ducking between people. Keith was following, looking unamused and confused. 

 

Pidge rolled her eyes at the two dorks and followed them. Getting closer, she could hear Lance humming some tune as he pressed his back quickly against a wall, peering around the corner. His hand came out to grab Keith’s robes and push him against the wall too. 

 

“Why, Lance. Why,” Keith sighed, exasperatedly. 

 

Lance shushed him and then whispered, “Because it is a requirement for being a spy, Keithy-boy!” 

 

“No, it’s not!” Keith whisper-shouted back. 

 

“Do wizard spies even exist?” 

 

“... No?” 

 

“Then we will be trusting my experience over yours!” Lance peered back around the corner, humming under his breath again. 

 

Pidge felt that if she rolled her eyes anymore, they would get stuck in the back of her brain. These two oblivious, dorky idiots that she happened to love with all of her heart. 

 

She watched as Lance lead Keith to sneak around the corner, Keith seeming to be both amused and annoyed by Lance’s antics. 

 

As brilliant as the idea was to follow Lotor and see if anything slips up, they were going to get nowhere being behind him. Pidge glanced down the crowded hall and evaluated where the fifth years went next for class. It wasn’t hard; she had Matt’s class schedule memorized. 

 

Potions, so Lotor would be heading toward the dungeon. 

 

Pidge mapped out his most likely path, taking into account the time before their next class and how she knew Lotor would be in the least crowded places to avoid being overheard. While he was the supposed ‘King of Slytherins,’ he seemed to not like to be in the spotlight all that much. 

 

Leaving the two Gryffindors to continue their obvious tailing, she moved quickly back down the passage to a different corridor to head Lotor off in the path she was eighty-nine percent positive he would travel, give or take a few outliers. Her footsteps fell softly on the stone as she allowed herself to switch into ‘sneak around for pranks’ mode, a familiar state of mind during the summer. 

 

She took a secret passageway, slipping behind a suit of armor and ducking into the small hole. It popped her out right behind a tapestry and she peeked her eye out the side to see Lotor walk down the deserted hall with his four cronies. 

 

“Come on, Lotey!” Ezor, a tiny girl with bright pink and purple hair whined. “You missed the last Hogsmeade trip! You better not miss anymore.” 

 

Zethrid, who was about twice the size of Pidge and looked like she could crush her with her bare hands (there had to be some giant blood in her), grunted in agreement. “You’re father’s a jerk to make you miss one of the best parts of this school.” 

 

Pidge couldn’t see Narti, but she knew that the tall, slender, mute girl had just nodded in agreement, because her ever-present cat meowed from being dislodged slightly from its regular perch on the girl’s shoulder.  

 

Lotor rolled his eyes and huffed impatiently. “I know, I know. I think it’s a dick move too, but I am required to stay and help him. He is my father, after all, as unfortunate as that may be. I’m pretty sure he won’t require my assistance on the trip at the end of this month, but I cannot say of the others. Everything depends on when my father needs me.” 

 

Pidge tried not to suck in a loud gasp. Of course, the smuggling happened during the Hogsmeade trips! All the third years and above, plus most the staff, were off campus. Second and first years definitely didn’t have the guts to go into the Forbidden Forest. She was almost mad at herself for not thinking of that sooner. 

 

“You got that right,” Axca grumbled under her breath. Pidge could hear her take a deep breath and speak more clearly. “You know that if he ever does anything to hurt you or forces you to do something that you don’t want to, you can tell us right? We are all here for you.” 

 

There were several noises of agreement, including a loud squeal of “Of course we are!” from what Pidge assumed to be the ever-enthusiastic Ezor. As much as Pidge wasn’t fond of Lotor’s crew for being pricks to her friends, she still respected them somewhat. She was nervous for the day she saw Ezor’s bad side, because she knew it had to be really scary. 

 

“I do know,” Lotor said, an unheard of fondness in his voice, “and I appreciate all of you dearly for that.” He took a deep sigh, his voice growing fainter as they continued down the hall, out of Pidge’s earshot. “I just can’t tell you yet.” 

 

Pidge waited until the footsteps faded, their conversation growing dimmer and dimmer as they headed down the spiral stairs at the end of the corridor that lead to the basement. Peeking her head out, she saw two familiar sets of eyes peering around the corner at the other end of the hall. 

 

Pidge rolled her eyes once again at the hushed bickering she could hear from two of her best friends. With one more glance down the corridor to the end of the staircase, just to make sure they were truly gone, Pidge slipped out of her hiding place and approached the corner where Lance and Keith were attempting to hide, just before the boys tumbled from around the corner. 

 

Standing above them, she felt her face school into a knowing smirk. Of course, she had actually figured it out before the boys could even hear anything useful. 

 

“Having fun, plebeians?” 

 

They were in a tangled mess on the ground, limbs and robes going everywhere. Keith huffed and detangled himself from Lance, almost elbowing him in the face in the process. When Lance squealed at the elbow proximity, Keith turned around quickly to cup Lance’s face to make sure he was okay. 

 

Oblivious dorks. 

 

She cleared her throat loudly, causing both boys to look up at her. “I figured out the next smuggling meeting.” 

 

Lance scampered to get to his feet, reaching down to haul Keith up by the back of his robes. “How?” 

 

Pidge’s eyes started dancing, “Probability and years of prank wars.” 

 

Keith started cracking up at Lance’s affronted look. 

 

Pidge continued, “It’s all set then. Let’s go tell the rest of the crew and make some plans. Next Hogsmeade trip Lotor isn’t signed up for, we adventure into the Forbidden Forest.” 

 

“Magic Murder forest,” Lance corrected. 

 

Pidge waved her hand, striding confidently down the hall toward her next class, “Semantics.” 

 

\------

 

“How much longer do you think it’s gonna take us to… you know…,” Lance looked around to check the area for any potential eavesdroppers, “Get the bad guys?”

 

“I dunno, Man,” Hunk said. “Honestly this has dragged on long enough it’s starting to make me feel kinda sick. It’s been months and we still don’t really know anything for sure. I’m just getting nervous I guess. Someone’s bound to notice we’re snooping around eventually.”

 

“That… Is a very good point and now I am also nervous. Thank you for that, Hunk.”

 

“Any time.”

 

“Hey, is that Keith? Keith!” Lance called, waving his arm wildly at the figure crossing on the other side of the courtyard. “Why isn’t he looking? Keith!” he yelled louder and left Hunk’s side to run after Keith.

 

“Lance, wait up!” Hunk called behind him.

 

“Keith,” Lance whined when he was close enough. “Hunk is doing that thing where he talks about things I should logically be concerned about and then refuses to give me sympathy when I inevitably freak out.”

 

“Hey!”

 

Keith stopped and stared at him, visibly confused but… not in the normal Keith way. “What?”

 

Lance sighed. “Ugh. Never mind. You’d probably just side with him on it anyway. Where are you going?”

 

“Uh… the forest,” Keith said, awkwardly. 

 

It was the kind of awkward that put Lance on edge. It wasn’t Keith’s usual halted delivery when he said something he thought was obvious. It was stilted and tense… careful. Lance gave him a blatant once-over, from head to toe.

 

“What are you doing?” Keith took a step back and tried to shy away from his gaze. 

 

“Just making sure you didn’t steal my sweater again. Did they change the meeting place?”

 

“I didn’t. And yeah. They didn’t tell you?”

 

“No, we must have missed the memo. We can walk there together now, though! Right, Hunk?” He turned to look at Hunk, who didn’t look nearly as suspicious as Lance felt. Maybe his feeling was off?

 

“You mean we’re going to willingly walk into the murder forest to have a meeting about the-”

 

“Yep!” Lance cut him off. “Exciting right?” Lance swung an arm around Keith’s neck and started walking, pulling him along towards the forest. “This is the stuff adventures are made of! Wouldn’t you say so Keith, my man?”

 

“Yeah. Right.”

 

“Right! So off we go!”

 

Hunk squinted at Lance and Keith, walking in front of him. They were acting weird. Not like, normal-weird, but weird-weird. Keith seemed really awkward, not anything new for him, but he was being cold to Lance? And Lance was withdrawing into that weird cordial state that he got in whenever he was trying to ‘kill his enemies with kindness.’

 

Were they fighting? And the whole gang didn’t know yet? 

 

Hunk frowned. Lance would have told him by now, and he was pretty sure they hadn’t talked since breakfast, where Lance was falling asleep on Keith’s shoulder. 

 

They continued to walk through the forest, the light gradually getting darker as the foliage grew thicker. 

 

“Soooo… Keith.” Lance started. “You’re hair looks not-so-much like a mullet today.” 

 

Hunk glanced at Lance, affronted. That was really weird-weird! 

 

“Thanks?” Keith answered, giving Lance a weird look. “That’s an… interesting complement. But you look good too, I guess.” 

 

Hunk’s jaw dropped. Just when he thought things couldn’t get weirder! 

 

Lance turned to him over his shoulder, mouthing ‘Fake Keith’ to Hunk.

 

Hunk nodded furiously. ‘How then?’ he mouthed back. 

 

‘Polyjuice potion?’ Lance shrugged, and then put a face back on to charmingly grin at Fake Keith. 

 

Hunk tried not to visibly freak out. Should he take Fake Keith down? Should they confront him? Should they run screaming for the castle? Hex the guy? Should he throw up? He felt like throwing up. 

 

Lance turned back to him, mouthing ‘Go get Pidge and help.’ 

 

His best friend was brilliant. Though self-sacrificing and kind of stupid to think that he would leave Lance here with this… Keith imposter. 

 

Hunk vigorously shook his head at Lance. 

 

Lance gave him a look. The one that said that Hunk knew that Lance was right and he should just trust him, as impulsive as the plan was. 

 

Hunk sighed, giving in. “Oh look at the time!” He nervously exclaimed. “I forgot I need to go meet Pidge at the castle for… flying lessons!” 

 

He winced. That was not convincing at all. 

 

Lance nodded vigorously. “That’s right! I forgot about that! I’ll stay here and go to find the others with my good pal Keith here.” 

 

Fake Keith schooled a look of annoyance into a careful face and shrugged. “Okay? See you later then?” 

 

“Bye!” 

 

Hunk turned on his feet and started walking back to the castle, making note of the path they were on. As soon as he was out of Lance’s and Fake Keith’s eyesight, he took off running.

 

Lance should feel honored, Hunk hated running. 

 

He swallowed his desire to throw up and tore into the open field before the castle, slowing to a brisk walk. Where would Pidge be?!

 

Walking in through a door into the back, Hunk jogged past the Front Hall, noticing a commotion of several adults. 

 

What was going on? 

 

He sneaked up the staircase, ducking down the hall carefully, to a tapestry that he knew hid a small balcony over the Hall. 

 

As he got close to the tapestry, a hand reached out and pulled him behind it. Hunk bit back a small yelp. 

 

“Shhh!” Pidge shushed, pulling him down beside her. 

 

“I should have known that you would be spying on whatever commotion is happening,” Hunk theorized. 

 

“Listen! This has to do with Surripo! They are looking for him and tracked him to here.” 

 

“I mean,” Hunk whispered back, “we already knew that.” 

 

Pidge rolled her eyes, “I know we did, but they brought a dementor to track him down.” 

 

“A dementor?” Hunk whisper-yelled. 

 

“Shut up! Yes, a dementor!” 

 

“Pidge, Pidge, Pidge.” Hunk was freaking out. “They are going to let that thing loose in the Forbidden Forest, and there is some stranger parading around as Keith, who I’m pretty sure is Surripo, with Lance in there right now!” 

 

Pidge looked at him in shock. “Shit!” Her calculating eyes shifted, showing her processing through multiple plans. “Okay, so Matt, Allura, Shiro, and the real Keith went to go meet at the meeting spot about thirty minutes ago. I got distracted by the rumor from one of my house-mates that a ministry official was here and came to spy. So Lance should be allowing the guy to lead him to the clearing we found them at a while ago, right?” 

 

“That was definitely the path we were taking, yes.” 

 

“Okay, then let’s go find the crew and warn them of the dementor and Fake Keith.” 

 

\---------

 

“They’re thirty minutes late!” Keith growled, pacing up and down the empty aisle in Coran’s classroom. “They should have been here by now.”

 

“Just give them some time, Keith,” Shiro said calmly. “They might have gotten hung up talking to someone.

 

“All three of them? Lance may be a social butterfly but he has a sense of responsibility. And even if he did get distracted Hunk or Pidge would drag him here.”

 

“He has a point,” Matt said, hopping up to sit on a desk and swinging his legs back and forth. “I’m a little worried too.”

 

“Freaking out never helped anyone-”

 

“I could think of a few times it’s helped,” Keith muttered, interrupting Shiro.

 

Shiro shot him a look but continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “We just gotta keep our heads, okay? Being patient is key. If we get frazzled, we’ll get sloppy and we’re dealing with actual criminals here. We can’t be sloppy.”

 

“No one’s saying you’re wrong, Shiro,” Allura spoke. “But it is concerning that almost half of us are missing.”

 

“I-... I know,” Shiro sighed. “I don’t like this either. But we can’t really do anything except wait for them, can we? It’s not practical to run around the whole school looking for them and we have no clue where they might be.”

 

Keith stifled another growl and scratched at his wrist under his friendship bracelet. It had been stinging and itchy for the past few minutes and he really hoped he wasn’t developing an allergy to whatever threads Lance used to make it.

 

He’d wear it anyway, damn his sensitive skin.

 

The doors to the classroom flew open and they all turned to see Pidge and Hunk sprinting into the room. “Guys!” Pidge yelled.

 

“What?” Matt leaped to his feet and hurried over to her. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

 

“Where’s Lance?” Keith demanded.

 

“Keith!” Hunk exclaimed. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here. Things would be so messy if you weren’t.”

 

“What? Why? Where’s Lance?” he asked again.

 

“It’s bad,” Pidge gasped, leaning on Matt to catch her breath, and Keith felt ice settle in his stomach. “Surripo’s on campus.”

 

“We know that,” Allura said, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

 

“He’s with Lance!” Hunk blurted.

 

“What?!” Keith snapped. His bracelet burned on his wrist.

 

“He’s you! Well, he’s not you. But he looks like you! Lance thinks it’s polyjuice potion.

 

“And he fell for it?!”

 

“Of course not! He knew something was up and sent me back here to get you guys.”

 

“That’s not the worst of it.” Pidge straightened up and turned to him. “The ministry sent a dementor here to look for him.”

 

“Bloody Hell,” Allura murmured, eyes wide.

 

Keith took off running.

 

Lance was alone with a wanted criminal in the forbidden forest with a dementor on the loose.

 

Keith had to find him.

 

“Keith!” Shiro yelled, not far behind him. “Hang on a second! The forest is huge, you have no idea where to start!”

 

Keith took a sharp right and sprinted for the treeline. “My bracelet has been burning for the last half hour!” he called back. “It was trying to tell me Lance is in trouble!”

 

“Are you frickin-” Shiro cut himself off and caught up with him. “Are you saying the power of friendship is guiding you right now?”

 

“I don’t know what it fucking is, but I’m trusting it!” He could hear everyone else running to catch up behind him but he didn’t slow down. He took turn after turn, following the faint impression of directions coming from the bracelet on his wrist.

 

The heat was near searing now, hot and painful against his skin and he swore he’d have a welt there later.

 

But he was so close. He could feel it.

 

There was a wall of foliage ahead of him and he knew, in the core of his being, that it was the only thing between himself and Lance.

 

He didn’t hesitate.

 

He tore through it, ignoring the twigs getting stuck in his hair and scratching his face. He heard Shiro call his name, but he didn’t look back. He made it through the other side and looked around, eyes immediately landing on a shocked looking Lance and…

 

Himself.

 

“Keith?”

 

“Lance,” he said, relieved. Shiro, Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and Matt burst through the shrubbery behind him but Keith didn’t spare them a glance. He took a step forward but froze when his imposter spoke.

 

“Don’t trust him, Lance! That’s not the real me!”

 

“Like hell, I’m not!” He bristled. “That’s something a fake would say!”

 

Lance snorted an inelegant, and probably inappropriately timed, laugh.

 

“He really does look exactly like you, Keith,” Matt remarked, clearly interested in whatever process resulted in such a convincing disguise.

 

“That’s because I’m Keith!” Fake Keith yelled. “Lance!” he turned to Lance, pleading. “You’ve been with me this whole time! Have I done anything that would make you think I’m not me?”

 

“Uh. Yeah? You’ve done nothing but things that make me think you’re not Keith. The most amazing thing about your Keith disguise is that you’re so bad at being Keith.”

 

“What?!”

 

“For starters, Keith has never stolen one of my sweaters,” Lance held up a finger, evidently more than prepared to list off his evidence. “Then you complimented me, which is weird enough, but it was right after I insulted your hair.”

 

Keith’s stomach sank when Lance had listed the compliment as a reason the fake was a fake, but it quickly righted itself when Lance brought up insulting his hair. He didn’t know what else he should have expected.

 

“But the biggest thing? You’re not wearing our friendship bracelet, and Keith would never take that off. I had you pegged in less than a minute. I know my roommate, and you’re a pretty poor knockoff.”

 

Keith felt warmth flutter in his chest but it was snuffed out when he caught sight of his doppelganger. Seeing a look of rage plastered across his own face was… surreal.

 

Surripo surged forward and grabbed Lance by the collar of his shirt, delivering two solid punches to his face before anyone could stop him.

 

Lance, dazed and disoriented, could barely put up a fight as he was forcibly turned around. Surripo wrapped one arm around his neck and drew his wand with his other hand, jabbing it harshly against Lance’s temple.

 

“Anybody moves and I’ll kill him!” he yelled. “I’ll kill him before any of you can even finish drawing your wands and I will make it hurt.” He said it all with Keith’s face and Keith’s voice, angry and unflinching and disturbingly steady.

 

Keith felt sick. His voice should never be saying that. 

 

His body should never be threatening Lance.

 

Shiro placed a firm hand on his shoulder and took a cautious step next to him and Keith wanted to scream at him to stop fucking moving because Lance’s life was on the line here-

 

But Surripo didn’t do anything except eye him warily.

 

“Don’t hurt him,” Shiro said. “Please. We won’t do anything. So please just let him go.”

 

“Why would I-” Surripo cut himself off, staring in alarm at the frost suddenly creeping across the ground, spreading rapidly over the clearing they stood in. He turned in the direction it seemed to be coming from and held Lance in front of him. Like a human shield.

 

Keith felt bile rising in his throat and he struggled to keep it back- struggled to see past the clouds his breath made as it stuttered uneasily out of his lungs into the suddenly freezing air.

 

He was scared.

 

He was really scared.

 

“Shit!” Shiro hissed quietly beside him.

 

They all stared ahead, trying to see the dementor before it saw them, but Keith kept getting distracted watching the clouds of Lance’s breath puffing out unevenly.

 

He was scared too.

 

“Keith,” Shiro whispered quietly. “Don’t do anything reckless.”

 

Keith barely heard him. It was like he was underwater, every sound distorted.

 

It was all so terribly quiet, and still, tense in a way the left Keith feeling like he’d never know what his resting heart rate felt like ever again.

 

And then all Hell broke loose.

 

The dementor surged out of the darkness, looming over them all and freezing everyone in place for the briefest of seconds, caught up in the chilling sound of its rattling breath. 

 

Someone behind Keith let out a high pitched whimper, Hunk or Pidge probably, and then everyone moved.

 

Surripo shoved Lance forward, directly in the path of the dementor, and turned to run away.

 

Shiro bolted from Keith’s side and tackled him to the ground harshly, hoarsely yelling something that would have lost his house at least ten points if anyone with the authority had heard it.

 

The dementor soared over all three of them without hesitation- and went straight for Keith.

 

Keith who hadn’t gone to help Lance off the ground where he’d face planted.

 

Keith who hadn’t retreated into the surrounding foliage with the rest of his friends.

 

Keith who hadn’t moved until it was too late.

 

He stumbled back a few steps but tripped over his own numb feet, crashing painfully to the ground but unaware of the scrapes he got on his elbows and hands. He couldn’t do anything but stare, eyes wide and scared, as the dementor drew closer to him.

 

“Keith!” He distantly heard Shiro yell.

 

He wanted to get up and run away. He didn’t want to see what was coming. He wanted to close his eyes.

 

He wanted to not die.

 

But he was paralyzed with fear, unable to move or look away.

 

And then there was Lance.

 

He heard Lance yell wordlessly as he surged in front of him, the sound probably more fueled by adrenaline than an actual need to say anything, and then he heard a change in the dementor’s hollow inhale that set his blood running cold.

 

Lance went rigid in front of him, a choked noise escaping his throat and Keith felt a pit open up in his stomach, taking every lingering bit of warmth left in his body with it.

 

It was going to feed off of Lance.

 

It was going to take his soul.

 

It was going to take Lance from him.

 

No.

 

He wouldn’t let it.

 

Not Lance.

 

Life had taken a whole fucking lot from him but he would be damned if he let it take Lance too.

 

They were finally friends, with bracelets to prove it and he was not going to lose his best friend to some decaying bedsheet that wreaked of death.

 

He blindly fumbled for his wand, pulling it the rest of the way out of his pocket from where it had almost slipped out when he fell, and he pointed it at the dementor, summoning every good thought he could think of. His hand trembled and he took a deep breath, at that moment letting go of his desperate scramble to find something good.

 

He let his mind go blissfully, alarmingly blank for one single moment, and then he latched onto the first thought that crept back in.

 

_ Lance _ .

 

“Expecto Patronum!”

 

His voice was strong- steady, and loud, and more powerful than he ever thought he was capable of sounding.

 

Light burst out of his wand, sweeping around Lance protectively and practically hurling the dementor away from them. In the empty space where it had just been, stood a lion, made obvious by the unruly mane it sported; large and glowing and ethereal.

 

Strong.

 

Keith’s Patronus.

 

He stared in awe for a moment, transfixed by the physical manifestation of his happiness. He saw Lance falter in the corner of his eye and his focus was shattered. He didn’t see the lion disappear as he was too busy surging up to his knees to catch Lance and ease him to the ground in a controlled fall.

 

“Lance! Are you okay?!”

 

Lance’s eyes fluttered unsteadily and he felt freezing cold in Keith’s arms, even despite the sweater he was wearing.

 

“Keith…?”.

 

Keith felt relief flood his veins but he drowned it in indignation. “What were you thinking trying to take on a dementor like that?!” He was vaguely aware of their friends gathering around them but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Lance to look at them.

 

“Tha’ wassa dementor?” he slurred. 

 

“Obviously!”

 

Lance’s head lolled onto Keith’s shoulder for a moment before he pulled it back upright with seemingly herculean effort. “Hey… we jus’ took out a dementor. We’re a pret-ty cool team, huh?”

 

And then he passed out.

 

Keith felt panic welling up in him but Shiro’s clear voice broke through it.

 

“He’s not dead, don’t worry.”

 

Finally, Keith looked up, subconsciously pulling Lance closer to his chest.

 

“We should get him to the infirmary though. Dementors are serious business and he probably does need help.”

 

Keith nodded and only just then noticed the unconscious figure, who was thankfully starting to look a lot less Keith-like, slumped over his brother’s shoulder. “How did-?”

 

“Doesn’t matter. You’ll have to carry Lance though because this guy weighs a lot more than you.”

 

“I can carry him,” Keith said firmly, determined to do just that. He would have even if Shiro hadn’t had his hands full.

 

He adjusted his hold on Lance and stood, keeping up with the brisk pace Shiro set for their journey back to the castle.

 

He couldn’t help the nerves that settled in his stomach though. He trusted his brother but it was hard not to worry about his roommate when he was cradling his unconscious body in his arms.

 

He really hoped Lance would be okay.

 

\-------

 

Lance felt himself drifting into consciousness and thoroughly wished he was still knocked out. 

 

Everything hurt so damn much. 

 

He squeezed his eyes shut tightly as all the pain hit him like a train. His whole body ached so much. 

 

What the frick happened? 

 

Lance could feel his chest rise and fall with a brief stuttering pain. His head definitely hurt the worst, an aching throb in the base of his skull and behind his eyes. He wiggled his toes, glad everything seemed to be in place, and then wiggled his fingers. 

 

His left fingers seemed to be brushing against something weird and the whole hand felt warm?

 

It took him several tries to actually peel his eyes open to see what was happening. 

 

Moonlight streamed through an open window, lighting the sparse dust floating in the room like sparkles, everything cast in a soft dark blue. Lance managed to turn his head to look down at his hand. 

 

There was a warm hand in his, fingers entwined and holding on tightly. A familiar bracelet was rubbing against its pair on his own wrist. 

 

“Keith,” Lance breathed out. 

 

The starlight danced in his dark hair, everything seeming so ethereal. Keith was curled up into a small ball onto the chair next to his bed, his head resting awkwardly between the armrest and his knees. The only thing not tucked into the little ball of Keith was the hand holding onto Lance’s tightly. 

 

Lance couldn’t help but smile as he drifted back into unconsciousness, his face turned toward Keith. 

 

When he managed to peel his eyes open again, he definitely felt worse. There was a gross, sandpapery taste in his mouth and the bright light made his head hurt even worse, if that was possible. 

 

He groaned and slammed his eyes shut, reaching up to rub them with his hands. 

 

His left one was still trapped. 

 

Lance’s eyes managed to peel open so he could stare affrontedly at whatever was keeping him from claiming his own hand. 

 

The first thing he saw was worried violet eyes staring at him. 

 

“Keith?” he managed to croak out. 

 

Keith visibly sighed and squeezed his hand once. “Hi Lance, how are you feeling?” 

 

“Like I got the life sucked out of me by an angry dementor.” 

 

He heard a choking noise, distracting him from Keith’s shocked face. 

 

Swinging his head around he looked over to Hunk, who was sitting in a chair on the other side of his bed. There was a muffin in his hand, the obvious culprit. Hunk got a hold of himself and glared at Lance, “Don’t joke about that, buddy! It’s not funny!” 

 

Pidge walked around the curtains that were pulled to seal his bed off from the rest of the room. “I mean, the first thing he does after coming to consciousness is make a joke. I think he is on the road to recovery.”

 

Lance snorted and then immediately regretted the way it jostled his head. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and unsuccessfully tried to contain a groan. 

 

Keith’s hand left his and he felt the soft brush of his fingers against his chin. Lance opened his eyes and his vision was filled with Keith’s worried grey eyes, the bright light making them look violet. Pidge and Hunk were crowding in around him. 

 

“Oh man, you and your fricken pretty grape fanta eyes,” Lance mumbled deliriously. 

 

Keith arched one eyebrow in confusion. 

 

“Oh god,” Hunk began to panic. “Oh god, someone get the nurse, he is saying weird things.” 

 

Pidge snorted, “Lance always says weird things.” 

 

“You okay?” Keith asked, his fingers softly turning Lance’s head to examine his eyes. 

 

“Are you okay? An angry dementor was after you.” 

 

Keith’s face morphed into an affronted look, “You seriously tackled a dementor and almost got your soul sucked out, and you’re asking if I’m okay!?” 

 

“Priorities,” Pidge chimed in, “Sort them out.”

 

“My priorities are fine!” Lance tried to sit up, Keith’s hands immediately reaching to support him. A sharp shooting pain in his head hole made him lay back down. “Okay, no sitting up yet.” 

 

“Exhibit A,” Pidge said dryly. 

 

Hunk’s warm hand patted his leg, “Everyone is okay, don’t worry buddy. We are just worried about you.” 

 

“I’m perfectly fine and will be on my feet in a jiffy,” he tried to say cheerfully.

 

“Lies,” Pidge snarked.

 

“So what happened after I bravely tackled the dementor?” 

 

“Tackled,” Pidge muttered under her breath, earning an elbow to the ribs from Hunk.

 

“You don’t remember anything?” Keith asked. 

 

“Just your angry mullet yelling things.” 

 

“But we had a bonding moment! I cradled you in my arms!” 

 

“Nope, don’t remember it, didn’t happen.” 

 

Lance grinned at Keith’s affronted look and reached to give his hand a squeeze. His smile widened when Keith squeezed back. Keith’s fingers latched onto Lance’s friendship bracelet, his fingers brushing along the soft skin of his wrist. 

 

“Okay, but really guys, what happened?” 

 

Shiro stuck his head around the hanging cloth, giving Lance a wide smile. Matt ran past him and collapsed onto Lance, fake-crying dramatically. 

 

Lance couldn’t help but crack up, using his free hand to pet Matt’s head. “Shh, shh my friend. All is well.” 

 

Allura, who followed Shiro into the small curtain-created room, smiled at him, her eyes dancing. “We are glad you are awake, Lance.” 

 

“How are you feeling?” Shiro asked. 

 

Matt abruptly stopped fake crying and plopped his head on his hands, still splayed across part of Lance’s bed. “Better?” 

 

With all his friends around his hospital bed, Lance felt the happiness bubble in his chest. “I’m actually feeling a lot better since you guys are all here to see me.” 

 

“Awww,” Hunk cooed. “Bro.” 

 

“Bro,” Lance answered, putting his hand over his heart. 

 

“Gross,” Pidge wrinkled her nose. 

 

“Just because you’re adverse to feelings Pigeon, doesn’t mean other people can’t have them. Now can someone tell me what happened after the dementor tried to get some of this Lancey-Lance-Romance?” 

 

Matt broke out laughing, Pidge groaned, Hunk snorted, Allura rolled her eyes, and the corner of Shiro’s mouth quirked up.

 

“Too soon,” Keith deadpanned. 

 

“Well,” Shiro began, “after you tackled the dementor, which was dumb by the way, it began to suck out your soul for some reason. Keith produced a Patronus-” 

 

Lance sat up quickly, dislodging Matt onto the floor, and spun to Keith, taking both hands in his. “You made a Patronus!! That’s amazing, Keith! I knew there were happy thoughts in your Emo brain! What was it?” 

 

Keith’s face was gradually getting pink with all the attention. “A lion,” he mumbled. 

 

Lance broke into a huge grin, “It fits you so well! And we match!” 

 

Pidge snorted loudly and Allura started giggling. Keith just got redder. 

 

Matt’s head popped up by the side of the bed. “Do you know about matching Patronuses, Lance?” He asked in a sing-song voice. 

 

“No, but I bet it means we are best buddies!”

 

Pidge snorted louder, “Suuuure. Let’s go with that.” 

 

Shiro, honest to god, facepalmed. “The only thing proven about corporeal Patronuses is that they are an extension of the ‘secret self.’” 

 

“So Keith is a furry for the Gryffindor lion?” Lance smirked. 

 

Keith looked at him, confused, “What the fuck is a furry?” 

 

Matt was laughing so hard, he started smacking the floor. 

 

Keith’s brows furrowed in angry confusion, “Well, my Patronus has a mane and yours doesn’t, so back off.” 

 

Shiro stuck an arm in between the boys, who were, oddly enough, still connected at the hand despite the bickering. “New Patronuses aside, essentially the dementor fled, Allura hexed and knocked-out Surripo, and we carried you back to the castle. Now eat your chocolate.” 

 

Hunk gasped, “I totally forgot to make him eat it the moment he woke up, I’m a terrible best bro.” He scooped up an impressively large bar of dark chocolate with sea-salt caramel, his favorite. Well, he was a firm believer in chocolate equality and loving them all equally, but he secretly favored dark chocolate with sea salt caramel.  Hunk ripped it open, shoved a piece in Lance’s mouth and the rest of the bar in his open hand. Keith was still holding the other captive, but Lance was not complaining at all. 

 

“You better eat that whole thing, it’s the best way to combat dementor residue,” Allura said. 

 

“Me? Eat a whole thing of chocolate?” Lance shoved another piece in his mouth. “Don’t have to tell me twice,” he mumbled around his full mouth. 

 

“Why are you so gross?” Pidge asked. 

 

“It’s part of my charm, gremlin child.” 

 

Shiro automatically put out an arm to stop Pidge from tackling Lance.

 

“He’s recovering, give him a break.”

 

Pidge rolled her eyes, but crossed her arms and slouched back against the wall. “Fine, but as soon as he’s out of that bed his ass is mine.”

 

“Are you sure it’s not Keith’s?” Matt whispered quietly in her ear.

 

Lance and Keith missed why everyone burst out laughing.

 

\------

 

Keith was that weird emotion of both slightly nervous about getting in trouble and extremely confident because he knew they did the right thing. 

 

Though the rest of the group wasn’t in as good of shape as him as they walked to the Headmaster’s office. 

 

Shiro was trying to appear calm, but Keith could tell that he was worried about getting in trouble as a Prefect. 

 

Pidge was a little ball of spite, ready to defend the group’s actions. Though, Keith knew that she was nervous that Headmaster Alfor wouldn’t listen to them. She hated being wrong or having her morals questioned when she knew she was in the right. 

 

Matt was visibly nervous, though in his own way, playing it off with jokes and grins. After he flustered his way through the third joke to no response from the group, he grew quiet, watching his feet peep out from under his robes.

 

Hunk was a hot mess and had been stuttering and talking nonstop since they got the summons. Keith could see the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead as he wrung his hands together. 

 

Allura was silent, her jaw set. Keith figured she was struggling with the conflict between doing what she thought was right and going against the rules. It didn’t help that the Headmaster was her father, so there were two sets of rules to contend with. 

 

And Lance. 

 

Lance was a mess. 

 

He wasn’t even trying to do his normal ‘everything is fine, I’m the charming Lance’ thing and was dead quiet. His hands were fidgeting and Keith could just feel Lance freaking out. 

 

He probably thought Headmaster Alfor would kick him out of school.

 

Allura lead the way to a Phoenix statue, standing stationary and alone in an alcove. Keith was too busy studying Lance to see what she did to get it to rise up toward the ceiling, pulling a circular staircase after it. 

 

As the rest of the group ascended, Keith caught Lance’s wrist and held him back. 

 

Lance turned to face him, his blue eyes duller than usual. It made Keith feel so sad and want to punch whoever made Lance look so deflated and helpless. Unfortunately, he got the impression this was a problem he couldn’t punch their way out of.

 

Keith swallowed, still clinging onto Lance’s wrist. “They won’t expel you. And if they do, we are all going with you, which is impossible.” 

 

“But…” Lance started, tears welling up in his eyes. 

 

“But no. They won’t. I promise. We won’t let them. I won’t let them.” 

 

Lance smiled slightly, blinking back tears, “Okay.” He slipped his hand into Keith’s for a moment and squeezed. “Let’s go.” 

 

They followed the end of the group up into the Headmaster’s office. 

 

Keith marveled at the circular room, large with lots of colored light streaming in from the top. Portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses lined the wall, either snoozing or not present. Low bookshelves lined the walls below, filled with an impressive collection of magic books. Several alcoves held interesting items that Keith figured were extremely rare or useful, though his attention was drawn to the large, mahogany desk on the far side of the room. Behind it, on a high shelf, sat the Sorting Hat. 

 

Headmaster Alfor was sitting behind the desk several parchments and books spread out before him. He was shuffling several together, sorting it into a pile. 

 

“Hello, Headmaster,” Allura inclined her head, the rest of the group following. “You summoned for us?” 

 

Headmaster Alfor stood, an unreadable expression on his face. “Hello, Allura,” he nodded at her. Then he addressed each other member, “Takashi, Matthew, Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Katie.” 

 

From the other side of Lance, Keith heard Hunk bite back a whimper when his name was said.

 

Oh boy.

 

This was gonna be rough.

 

“I’m glad to see you out of the hospital wing, Lance.”

 

Lance gulped audibly from his place next to Keith. “Th- thank you, Sir.”

 

Allura started, “Fa- I mean Headmaster, you have to know-” 

 

“Allura,” Headmaster Alfor held up his hand, standing and moving around the front of his desk. “Please let me talk first.” 

 

Allura pursed her lips, but nodded.

 

“First I want to say that the seven of you should have come to me. I understand the worry over being believed,” he looked at Lance and Allura pointedly and Keith wondered exactly how much the man knew if he was being so direct about little details, “And I understand the desire to prove yourself,” here he leveled his gaze at Keith and Shiro. “And I understand that wanting to support your friends tends to come above all else for… well, all of you. It’s an admirable quality. You’re all lucky to be part of a group of such loyal friends. But you must know that what you did was reckless and could have had dire consequences had it not been for your fortunately timed quick thinking and good luck. I don’t need to tell you all what could have happened. You already know. And I don’t need to tell you about how many rules you broke. You already know that as well. In the future, if you intend on embarking on more… shall we say… adventures like this, then I want you to seriously weigh the risks before acting on your own. There’s no shame in asking for help. Anything is preferable to risking the safety of those you care about.” He looked at Lance as he said the last part, as if he was subtly providing everyone with a solid example of just how close they’d come to having their risk not pay off.

 

Keith swallowed past the lump in his throat and looked down. He’d hear the choked noise Lance made when the dementor started feeding on him for weeks to come, he was sure. Could it have been avoided? If he hadn’t been so set on taking down Zarkon himself, would they have been spared the horror of that encounter in the forest?

 

He looked down and saw that Lance’s hands were still shaking. Reaching down, he twined his fingers around Lance’s bracelet. 

 

“Ten points will be taken from each of your houses, for each of you.” 

 

Keith winced. That was a severe blow for Ravenclaw. Thirty points? How would they make that up? He tried to imagine what Shiro, Matt, and Allura were thinking.

 

And twenty points from Gryffindor for their stupidity. Their house was going to hate them. 

 

Jennings was going to kill them.

 

Keith’s gravestone would read: “Defeated a Dementor. Killed by a Quaffle.”

 

“That being said,” the headmaster continued, leaning back against his desk casually, “I cannot deny that this little misadventure has certainly allowed you to grow and learn and become stronger. You’ve learned magic beyond your years and exhibited the finest teamwork I’ve seen since I, myself, was a student. Such accomplishments cannot go unrecognized.”

 

All of their heads snapped up to stare at him, shocked expressions clearly evident.

 

“For keeping a cool head, and being a good leader, I’m awarding twenty points to Shiro. Your guidance kept everyone safe.”

 

Shiro cleared his throat and Keith could swear he saw tears in his brother’s eyes. “Thank you, Sir.”

 

“To Allura for preemptively teaching your friends a spell, which is highly above their ability, that saved their lives, I’m awarding Ravenclaw another twenty points.” 

 

Allura, who always stood with proper posture, seemed to grow even taller. “Thank you,” she smiled, proud but gracious.

 

“For holding the team together and keeping everyone’s spirits up, twenty points to Matthew.”

 

Matt squeaked and grinned. “Oh geez, that’s me.”

 

Keith was pretty sure that was a meme reference. Lance stifled a snort next to him and Keith decided he was positive that was a meme reference.

 

“For being a level headed voice of reason, and for exhibiting unflinching trust in your friends, twenty points to Hunk.”

 

“Thank you,” Hunk said sincerely.

 

“For your cleverness and cunning, and the ability to gather more information than any one human being should be able to, twenty points to Katie.”

 

Pidge grinned and Keith could swear he heard her cackling under her breath.

 

“To Keith,” Headmaster Alfor said, snapping Keith back to attention, “for overcoming your own personal struggles to save the life of a friend, fifty points.”

 

Keith gaped. No. No way. That- Fifty points? For panicking and almost getting Lance killed? That couldn’t be right. There had to be a mistake.

 

Before he could open his mouth to question it though, the headmaster had moved on.

 

“And to Lance, for his quick thinking, discerning eye, and most of all for reminding us all how to be brave, fifty points.”

 

Keith looked over to Lance who was getting his back thumped on enthusiastically by Hunk. He looked shell shocked. His eyes were wide and he seemed a little pale- though to be fair he’d seemed a little pale every day since he’d woke up in the hospital wing.    
  


“I-I… Thank you, Sir!” he stuttered, stumbling sideways from the force of Hunk clapping his shoulder again.

 

Headmaster Alfor nodded. “There’s one more thing we need to discuss. I feel it’s only right that you find out what came of everything.”

 

“Did they catch Surripo?” Allura asked.

 

“Did they catch Zarkon?” Keith muttered under his breath.

 

“They caught both of them.”

 

“What?!” They all yelled. 

 

“They found proof that Zarkon was involved?” Shiro asked.

 

“What about Lotor? What happened to him?” Pidge cried.

 

The headmaster held a hand up and they all quieted down instantly. “Lotor is still enrolled as a student here. Professor Zarkon and Surripo, along with Surripo’s gang, have all been apprehended and are awaiting trials in Azkaban. They were running a smuggling operation out of the school, quite a lucrative one if I understand right. They were dealing out hair from students and teachers here to be used in polyjuice potion, as well as the potion itself. Such an operation is, obviously, very illegal, and naturally I fired Zarkon right away. We will be keeping an eye on sightings of students outside of the grounds for a while, to make sure your identities are not being used for anything untoward.”

 

Keith felt sick thinking about how his own face had been used ‘untowardly.’

 

“So where does Lotor fit into this?” Hunk asked.

 

“Yeah, Keith and I definitely saw him in the woods!” Lance said.

 

“Lotor had no choice but to obey his father’s instructions. As soon as you brought us Surripo he came forward and told us of his father’s involvement. He said that he had been in charge of collecting stray hairs from his classmates and giving them to the smugglers. They even used his own hair on a few occasions to sneak into the castle. The Ministry and I have agreed to rule him innocent in this matter. Being forced into a crime by a manipulative and abusive parent is certainly very sad and we saw no need to punish him for something that he clearly was unwilling to be part of and regrets doing.”

 

That was all well and good in Keith’s book. Sure he didn’t like Lotor, but he also wasn’t a heartless ass. It just left him wondering exactly when and how Lotor had gotten his hands on a strand of Keith’s hair. And… why? 

 

Shiro stepped forward, “Thank you, Sir, for your kind awards. We all have definitely grown from this encounter,” the whole group nodded vigorously around him, “and will take your advice about weighing the risks to heart. We are all extremely sorry for breaking the rules.” 

 

Headmaster Alfor regarded them all with an expression that strongly suggested he thought they were more sorry for the danger that breaking the rules put them in than they were for actually breaking the rules but he didn’t say anything to contradict Shiro’s heartfelt- though hard to believe- apology.

 

“Yes, I’m sure. Well, off you go. As you can imagine there is a lot of paperwork involved in having one of your employees arrested and I now have to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

 

“You’re welcome, Father,” Allura grinned cheekily.

 

He waved his hand at her and sat down, a clear dismissal, but there was a smile on his face that said exactly how fond he was of his daughter and her friends.

 

They filed out of the office and back down the stairs into the corridor, not speaking until the last of them had gotten off the stairs and the statue of the phoenix had returned to its normal position.

 

“That,” Hunk started, “went so much better than I thought it would.”

 

Everyone heaved a sigh and agreed.

 

“No kidding, man!” Mad said. “I thought Mom and Dad were gonna murder me for being such a bad influence on Pidge, that we got kicked out of Hogwarts!”

 

“We all know I’m the bad influence,” Pidge said, but even she looked relieved.

 

“That was… Nerve racking,” Shiro admitted.

 

Keith looked at Lance, noting that, while he didn’t look nearly as scared, he still looked pale and sick. “You okay?” he asked quietly, nudging Lance with his shoulder.

 

Lance shot him a smile that wasn’t nearly as bright as his usual ones but still seemed genuine. “Yeah. That was just so stressful. I feel like it’ll take me a week to stop feeling nervous.”

 

Keith nodded. He could understand that. “Take it easy, okay? You still need to recover from… well…” He didn’t want to say ‘almost dying’ but he also didn’t want to brush it off by saying something vague like ‘everything that happened.’

 

Lance nudged him back, tugging on his friendship bracelet. The smile on his face turned softer, more sincere. “I will. Thanks Keith.”

 

And Keith was sure Lance didn’t know, but that was the first time he’d smiled like that since getting out of the hospital wing.

 

“Any time,” Keith grinned, and he felt the tension he’d been holding- the fear that hadn’t quite gone away since Lance passed out in the forbidden forest- beginning to relax.

 

Things were on the mend.

 

\-------

 

Lance shivered in the cool air that filtered through the astronomy tower. He would have grabbed a sweater but he didn’t want to wake Keith up while he was digging through his trunk to find one, and Blue was asleep in the middle of his bed so he’d been unable to take a blanket with him without disturbing her.

 

He’d told himself that it was springtime and he’d be fine with just his long sleeved pajama shirt. It was starting to warm up and it would be sunrise soon so it would only get warmer and- and he knew it was all just nonsense that he was telling himself, but...

 

He’d just needed out- needed air.

 

The fact that it was springtime did little to help the temperature or his mood. It was still cold and it didn’t change the fact that he’d just spent the majority of the school year trying to catch a bunch of smugglers in the Forbidden Forest with his friends.

 

It didn’t change the fact that sometimes at night he felt like he just couldn’t ever get warm enough. 

 

It didn’t change the fact that sometimes when he was just on the edge of sleep he could hear hollow, rattling breath hovering over him.

 

It didn’t change the fact that he’d come dangerously close to being in real, serious, trouble, and if he’d known more he could’ve avoided it.

 

He pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them tighter to himself, trying to preserve some warmth and fend off a shiver unrelated to the cold.

 

It didn’t change that fact that sometimes he couldn’t sleep because the thoughts whirling around in his head wouldn’t stop screaming that his own ineptitude was all he had to blame and that his ignorance almost got him killed.

 

He stared out into the distance, where the horizon was just starting to glow pale gray, a sign of dawn’s nearing arrival, and tried to will his thoughts to just be quiet. He could feel the dark circles forming under his eyes and he buried his face in his knees, searching for any believable lie he could tell his friends to excuse the sorry state he’d undoubtedly be in, come breakfast time. It would have to be a good one too, cause Keith would know he’d been out of the dorm.

 

Something warm and soft draped over him, shortly followed by the sounds of someone settling next to him.

 

“You know for someone who’s constantly complaining about the cold, it’s pretty surprising to find you up here in cotton pajamas, without a blanket or anything.”

 

“They’re flannel,” Lance mumbled.

 

“They could be wool and you’d still be cold,” Keith huffed. “So? What’s up?”

 

Lance shrugged, but he was sure all Keith saw was the mound of quilt on top of him shifting. “Couldn’t sleep.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Too cold.”

 

There was silence and Lance could just see Keith staring at him skeptically. “You know how much that doesn’t make sense, right?”

 

Lance shrugged again, pulling the blanket closed in front of him to make a cocoon.

 

Keith sighed and then the blanket was being pulled back, off of his head and away from his face. Lance didn’t sit up but he did turn his head to look at Keith.

 

“There you are,” Keith smiled softly.

 

Lance took in his appearance and frowned. “You’re the one wearing cotton pajamas outside in the cold. Do you want to get sick?”

 

“I was warm in bed until a few minutes ago. Budge over and share if you’re so worried about my health.” Keith grabbed a corner of the blanket and Lance didn’t fight him when he pulled it open and slid closer to him before tucking it back around them.

 

“Why aren’t you still warm in bed?”

 

“Noticed you were gone.”

 

Lance’s heart thudded painfully at that. “What, you’ve got some sort of sixth sense?” he said sarcastically.

 

“No, I woke up and couldn’t hear you.”

 

“I don’t snore,” Lance pouted.

 

“I didn’t say you did.”

 

“Oh so you’re just so attuned to the sound of my breathing that the absence of it woke you up?”

 

“Yes,” Keith said simply.

 

Lance sat bolt upright then, turning to stare at Keith with wide eyes. It was one thing to know, objectively, that Keith would notice he’d left the dorm at some point. It was another thing entirely to hear Keith himself admit that he noticed because he couldn’t hear Lance breathing. 

 

The unflinching sincerity he found in Keith’s steady gaze was disorienting and Lance looked away, grasping for anything to throw him off just as much as Lance was feeling. “People are gonna get ideas again if we keep sneaking up here like this. We should go back.”

 

“What ideas?” he sounded genuinely confused and Lance slumped in defeat.

 

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go.” He started to move to get up but Keith grabbed his hand and held him in place.

 

“I know what you’re doing.”

 

“You do?” That was surprising. Lance wasn’t even sure he knew what he was doing.

 

“You’re deflecting. You do this every time you’re upset. You avoid everyone whenever you can and when you can’t you talk about anything but yourself.”

 

“I do not.”

 

“You do. Why won’t you talk to me?”

 

Lance bit his lip and tried to pick at his nails, but Keith was still holding onto his hand. He settled for picking lint off of the quilt around them instead. “I just…,” he trailed off, unsure of the most succinct way to sum up his thoughts.

 

Keith waited patiently for him to get his words in order, squeezing his hand lightly in encouragement.

 

“I feel pretty stupid.”

 

Keith blinked. “Again?”

 

Now Lance blinked. “What do you mean ‘again?’”

 

“We had this conversation last year. Do you need me to start telling you cool things you do every day? Cause I will.”

 

Lance felt his face heating up, despite the wind biting at his cheeks, and he pulled his hand from Keith’s to join his other in waving frantically in front of his face. “No no no! No, this is… it’s different. I mean I guess it’s kind of related but…,” he ran his hands through his hair, resting his elbows on his knees, and looking out to the horizon again. “It’s just like… how much talent do you have to have… or not have… to almost get yourself killed at school? I know Gryffindors are generally kind of reckless but… there’s a difference between reckless bravery and ignorant stupidity. I just don’t feel very Gryffindor-y. Maybe the hat was wrong.”

 

“The hat’s never wrong, Lance, you know that.”

 

“No, I don’t know that, Keith!” Lance exploded, ignoring how Keith flinched back at his unexpected yelling. “I don’t know any of the things that you guys think are obvious! I didn’t grow up learning how to play quidditch and watching my parents use magic to knit and cook and garden! I didn’t grow up learning about all of the magical things that can hurt you! Dementors?! What the fuck are those?! What do they look like?! No one told me!”

 

Keith went pale then, a small “Oh,” escaping his lips and Lance could already sense the guilt he’d try to cultivate over that. A small part of him thought it was a little endearing but the majority of him just got even angrier about it.

 

It was his mistake. His fuck up and he was going to accept responsibility over it. There was no reason for his friends to keep having to clean up after him. “But everyone who finds out who my family is thinks I should know- thinks we should have kept up with all this magic stuff after it left us! Why?! Being from my family doesn’t make a difference! I’m not special! I’m the least special person I know! So yeah, when I saw this creepy as fuck angel of death thing trying to eat your soul, or whatever it is they do, I jumped in front of you! It made more sense to risk my life against some unknown death sheet than to do nothing and lose you! You’re the most Gryffindor Gryffindor to ever Gryffindor and I’m-” Lance cut himself off and inhaled deeply, trying to keep his voice from betraying how close he was to crying. “Nothing. I’m just… here. I’m just here and I’m scared and I don’t feel like I belong.”

 

Keith was quiet for a long moment. Whether he was waiting to see if Lance had more to say or if he was thinking of what he could possibly say back, Lance wasn’t sure but he was too scared to look him in the eye.

 

“So where would you rather be?” he said finally.

 

“What?” Lance sniffed.

 

“If you don’t feel like you belong in Gryffindor, where would you rather be? You’re plenty smart, you’d be a great Ravenclaw. You could probably give Matt a run for his money if you really wanted. But you’re also charming and charismatic and determined, so Slytherin would fit too. Then again, you’re one of the kindest, most patient people I know, and you’re loyal to a fault. Hufflepuff then?”

 

“What are you doing?” Lance’s voice was thick, his nose clogged from trying to hold back tears, and his throat sore.

 

“I’m calling you out on your bullshit!” Keith said firmly. He wasn’t yelling but he was insistent in a way that made him seem so sure- confident. “You don’t think you fit in Gryffindor, so where do you fit? Because you belong at Hogwarts, Lance, and I can list reasons why right through this sunrise and the next! I’ll kick your anxiety’s ass! You are a brave, self-sacrificing fool and you’re the best friend I could have ever asked for! You’re the best friend anyone could ask for. You care. So much. You care and you worry and you have more heart than anyone I’ve ever met. You get scared sometimes? So do I! So does everyone! Your heart is why you’re in Gryffindor. You’re heart saved my life! Do you get that, Lance? You saved my life.”

 

“I-” Lance gaped at him, mouth opening and closing uselessly.

 

“You wanna argue with that? Write it off as me trying to make you feel better? You got points for it! Headmaster Alfor doesn’t just give fifty points to people who don’t belong!’”

 

“He gave me points for getting lucky after making a dumb move. If you hadn’t reacted then-”

 

“If you hadn’t made your so called dumb move then I would have died! I was frozen! I was scared stiff and the only thing that got me moving was the thought that if you died trying to save me then I would never forgive myself! Sure, in an ideal world we remembered to tell you what dementors looked like and you would have been able to swoop in with your patronus and save the day and neither of us would be stuck with all of this gross misplaced guilt and trauma. But that’s not what happened.” Keith placed his hand over Lance’s heart and Lance marveled at the heat that immediately seeped through his nightshirt. “This happened. You, with your reckless need to protect your friends saved me. You, with your baseless courage in the face of things you’d never seen, with your Gryffindor heart,” Keith clenched his fist in Lance’s shirt and stared hard at it, suddenly blinking back tears. “You saved me. You call it Stupidity. I call it the bravest thing I’ve ever seen. The only difference between Stupidity and Bravery is success.”

 

Lance sniffed and cracked a weak smile. “Who said that?”

 

“The wise philosopher Mathematics Holt.”

 

Lance snorted and huffed a laugh. “Seriously?

 

Keith nodded. “Shiro was lecturing me for doing something dumb once, I think I was trying to get Red down from a tree or something. He said what I did was stupid and reckless and Matt was laying on the floor reading when he threw that line out there. Shiro and I stared at him for a minute and then Shiro shot back something about not encouraging me with his ‘fortune cookie wisdom.’”

 

“Shiro knows what a fortune cookie is? Did it come from a fortune cookie?”

 

Keith shook his head. “No, he really is just a profound genius sometimes. Pidge loves Chinese food so when we’re home over the summer, sometimes the Holt’s take trips to muggle towns and they take us.”

 

Lance smiled. “That sounds nice.”

 

“It is. I enjoy them a lot more now that I know you, though.”

 

Lance blinked. “Why?”

 

Keith shrugged. “I just feel more connected to it now. Before it was just like… that stuff Pidge and Matt liked, but now… It’s part of my best friend’s life. I feel… closer to you, I guess. I get to share magic things with you all school year but when summer hits, you have to go home and I… just feel like there’s a part of your life that I miss out on.”

 

Lance stared at Keith, at the awkward embarrassed flush on his cheeks, and he felt his anxiety settle a bit- not completely- but enough that he felt at home in his own skin again. He smiled and leaned his head on Keith’s shoulder. They sat in silence for a while, watching colors starting to bleed into the sky- pinks, and oranges, and blues, mixing and blending in the seamless way that only a sunrise could.

 

Keith sighed and dropped his head onto Lance’s. “Honestly, I was a little worried you were gone because of me.”

 

Lance blinked, dragged out from his near sleepy stupor by the words. “What?”

 

“I just… thought you left because you didn’t want to be around me… couldn’t be around me. But when I went to check the couch, you weren’t there so…”

 

Lance sat up and turned to face Keith, ignoring how Keith almost fell into his side before flailing to maintain his balance. “Why wouldn’t I want to be around you?”

 

Keith looked away, avoiding eye contact in a clear sign of discomfort. “Well… It’s just… He looked like me…”

 

Lance stared at him. “... Surripo?” he asked, finally finding the tracks Keith’s train of thought had jumped onto.

 

Keith nodded. “Yeah.”

 

“And?”

 

“Well he hurt you… and he threatened you… and he looked like me so…”

 

“And he wasn’t you,” Lance said firmly. He reached over and grabbed Keith’s chin, turning his head to make sure he could make eye contact with him. “He wasn’t you, Keith. I knew that. I didn’t believe his act for a minute. It was like it was someone wearing a hyper realistic Keith mask. It wasn’t you and I never thought it was. I went with him because I wanted to keep an eye on him, not because I thought he was you. Are we clear? I don’t blame you and I know you would never do what he did. I trust you. Okay?”

 

Keith nodded, eyes wide. “Okay.”

 

Lance nodded back. “Good.”

 

They went back to watching the sun rise then, leaning against each other, and a peaceful quiet settling over them. Lance had a strange feeling twisting in his stomach though, that wouldn’t go away since Keith brought up his apparent feelings of inadvertent responsibility. 

 

“You know you saved my life too, right?” He ventured after a while, softly, almost shy. He wanted to get it out there though, before they went back to their dorm and the opportunity lost itself to sleep.

 

“Hm?” Keith apparently had been close to falling asleep already. Lance watched as his eyes blinked open and settled on him, unguarded and honest.

 

“With the dementor. You saved my life,” Lance said, not for the first time feeling the gravity of the words wash over him. There had been times before where he’d asked himself where he’d be without Keith, but the answer had never been a resounding and terrifying ‘dead’ before. “You conjured a patronus for me,” he grinned.

 

Keith flushed and sat up, distancing himself from Lance and, Lance suspected, the sheer gratitude he felt showing on his face. “Oh uh- it was… it was nothing. You would’ve done the same if you’d known what it was.”

 

Lance shook his head. “It is too something. I didn’t know you’d managed to conjure one yet.” He knocked his shoulder with Keith’s, a proud grin on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Keith somehow turned even redder and looked away. “I hadn’t. Before. That was the first time.”

 

Lance stared at him, flabbergasted. “Wait. It was?!” 

 

Keith nodded.

 

Lance’s grin turned blinding. “Keith!” He threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly. “That’s so cool! That’s like the coolest thing you’ve ever done! Of course you’d manage to pull out some super advanced magic right in the middle of a life or death situation after having trouble with it in practice! What did you think of?!”

 

Keith sputtered but eventually gave up trying to get out of Lance’s hold. “Oh- you know… just… stuff.” Did his voice crack? It had, hadn’t it?

 

“Stuff? What kind of stuff? That’s a terrible answer, Keith, you know I need the juicy details!”

 

“Well I thought of- of… You know what?” he said, sitting up with enough force to dislodge Lance’s arms from around him. “I’m not telling you! It’s embarrassing!” 

 

“Keith!” Lance whined, dragging his name out. “It can’t be that bad! Come on! I’ll tell you mine! It’s embarrassing! Then you won’t be the only one!”

 

“Alright! Go on then!” Keith said, the challenge in his voice perfectly clear.

 

“I will!” Lance shot back. “I thought of- of… Oh wow. This really is embarrassing, huh? Like… A lot more embarrassing than I thought it would be.” He laughed awkwardly and scratched at the back of his neck, avoiding Keith’s smug look as he crossed his arms. “Shut up!” Lance said, drumming his fingers on his knees.

 

“Didn’t say anything,” Keith said. God, he even sounded smug.

 

“Ugh!” Lance groaned and hid his face in his hands. “Okay,” he said, “Okay. Okay.” He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out. “Okay.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Lance shot him a half hearted glare but he looked so close to laughing that Lance had to look away or risk bursting into laughter himself.

 

“I thought of when you stuck up for me in front of Lotor.”

 

There was a pause then, and Lance held his breath.

 

“In first year?” Keith asked, sounding surprised.

 

Lance nodded. “Yeah. You remember that?”

 

“Yeah. I’m more surprised that you remember that honestly.”

 

“How could I forget?” Lance’s breath rushed out of him in an almost laugh. “I was half a world away from home for the first time in my life, without anyone I knew, surrounded by things from a world I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks prior. Everything was new and scary, and no matter what I did I felt like I was ages behind everyone else. And then this prick comes along and starts saying everything I’ve been worrying about out loud for everyone to hear and I was too embarrassed to stand up for myself, not to mention that I’d already been thinking everything he said. How could I call him out and say he was wrong when I wasn’t sure if he was? But then you jumped in and told him off. Said the most words I’d ever heard you say at one time to anyone that wasn’t Shiro. I thought you hated me,” he huffed.

 

Keith’s eyebrows scrunched together. “I didn’t hate you.”

 

Lance rolled his eyes. “I know that now. But at the time we never talked unless we were fighting. Part of me thought you’d just sit there and let him keep ragging on me and the other part of me was terrified that you’d jump in and join him. So yeah, when you got all heated and jumped in to defend me it made an impression. It was the first time I felt like I had someone in my corner- like I could actually get through the year okay. It was barely two weeks in and since we didn’t have classes with Hufflepuff, I hadn’t spent much time with Hunk. My roommate was the safest bet I had at friendship and in that moment I was glad it was you. Grateful even.” Lance looked at him, trying to convey the level of gratitude he’d felt at the time, felt every time he thought of it. “Still am.”

 

Keith looked away, into the sunrise and he was quiet. “I never thought about how hard those first few months must have been for you. I mean I knew it was a major adjustment but it never occurred to me that it was probably… lonely.”

 

Lonely.

 

There was something about that word, about the way Keith said it, that left Lance feeling incredibly vulnerable. Like he’d gone onto the quidditch pitch without any equipment and someone had charmed the bludgers to target him and told him to get moving but he didn’t have a broom and the stands were full of people with Lotor’s face.

 

Lance shuddered. “You were lonely too. Once I realized that, I didn’t have any time to feel lonely. It’s hard to feel lonely when you’re trying to stop someone else from feeling lonely.” He inhaled shakily, realizing that this was quickly turning into a long string of Lance admitting to insecurities he’d tried to bury, one right after the other. “And now the word lonely doesn’t sound like a word anymore cause I’ve said it too much,” he said with false brightness. “But I see what you’re doing, Keith, and don’t think it’s gonna work! I shared mine so you have to share yours. What thought did you deem happy enough to summon a patronus with?”

 

Keith looked at him for a long hard moment and Lance was terrified that he’d call him out on deflecting again, but he didn’t.

 

He simply scooted closer, pulling the blanket tighter around them and letting their shoulders brush, sharing body heat.

 

“I thought of when you gave me the friendship bracelets,” he said simply.

 

Lance waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t elaborate he had to speak. “Really?”

 

Keith nodded. “The fact that you care enough about our friendship… about me… that you spent time to make a physical reminder so I’d never doubt it… It’s not a bad thought.”

 

“Why, Keith, that’s the most flattering thing you’ve ever said to me,” Lance deadpanned.

 

‘Not a bad thought.’

 

Keith really knew how to woo a guy.

 

Lance blinked, his train of thought screeching to a halt. ‘Woo?’ Where had that come from?! He meant compliment. Yeah. That’s it.

 

Keith really knew how to compliment a guy.

 

Keith shot him a flustered, grumpy, glare, completely oblivious to the minor heart attack Lance was having next to him. “Shut up, Okay? I told you it was embarrassing!” He was blushing. His cheeks were red and Lance grinned, gleeful at having finally thrown Keith for a loop for once.

 

“Awww, Keithy,” he cooed, reaching over to pinch his cheek. Keith batted his hand away but Lance continued unphased. “If it means that much to you, I’ll teach you how to make them.”

 

“Making them, I’m sure I could figure out, I’m more curious about how you enchanted them.”

 

Lance stopped, smile slipping from his face. “Enchanted them? What? I didn’t do anything to them.”

 

“Uh, Yeah you did,” Keith said, holding up his wrist as if showing Lance the bracelet he made would somehow get him to admit to doing something he certainly hadn’t done. “That’s how I found you when you were with Surripo.”

 

“What? How?” Lance reached for Keith’s wrist and brought it closer to his face, as if inspecting the bracelet he made would somehow get him to believe he’d done something he certainly hadn’t meant to. Not intentionally anyway.

 

Keith shrugged. “It just started burning all of a sudden. I thought maybe I was allergic but it kept getting stronger and stronger. Then Pidge showed up with Hunk and they said you were in trouble and suddenly it clicked. It was like it was trying to tell me you were in danger. So I ran. I’d get vague inclinations of directions. Like… I’d look left and if I got a funny feeling I’d go left. If I didn’t then I’d look around until I got the feeling and go that way. Then I found you. You didn’t do that on purpose?”

 

“No!” Lance cried, throwing his hands up. “Of course I didn’t do magic outside of school on purpose! Oh my gosh they’re gonna expell me! They’re gonna expel me for doing magic I didn’t know I was doing! They’re gonna send me back home and I’m never gonna be allowed back and I’m never gonna see you or anyone else ever again! Will they take my wand? Will they take my cat?!”

 

“Lance, Lance calm down!” Keith laughed, reaching over to hold Lance’s arms still and get him to relax. “Just breathe, they’re not gonna expel you.”

 

“Why not?! They were very clear about the rules, Keith! I know we always say fuck the rules but this is one rule you should not fuck! It’s the unfuckable rule! It’s like a nun!”

 

Keith snorted. “Oh my gosh.” He tried to be serious but he couldn’t hang onto it for more than a second before he dissolve into a fit of laughter. He buried his face in Lance’s shoulder and Lance idly noted that he was somehow still insanely warm.

 

“I’m glad you think this is so funny!” he yelled. “Keep laughing! That’s the last joke I’ll ever get to tell you at this school!”

 

“Lance you overdramatic dweeb will you please listen to me?” Keith gasped once he’d gotten enough air. “Stop making me laugh for like two seconds please- Merlin’s beard,” he wheezed. “Okay. They’re not going to expel you for a bit of accidental magic. Everyone’s done it at some point.”

 

Lance blinked. “What?”

 

Keith nodded. “Usually that’s how families find out their children have magic. When you don’t know how to control it it seeps out and does things. Sometimes it’s obvious things like making things disappear or float, other times it’s more subtle. Like accidentally enchanting some friendship bracelets to warn the wearers when their partners are in danger, apparently.”

 

“Oh,” Lance said simply, awed by yet another apparently normal thing that he’d had no clue about. “Well that’s good.”

 

“Yeah,” Keith grinned at him, a dopey sleepy grin that had Lance feeling dopey and sleepy himself.

 

All at once it hit Lance that it was sunrise and he hadn’t slept a wink all night. He was exhausted.

 

And very cold. He couldn’t feel his nose.

 

He yawned and stretched, trying to contain his movements to within their little blanket cocoon, but failing miserably. 

 

“We’d better get going if we don’t want to get caught sneaking back to the dorm,” Lance said, rubbing at his eyes.

 

“Yeah,” Keith sighed. He stood up, leaving the blanket to pool around Lance and offered a hand to help him up. “Good thing it’s Sunday. I don’t mind missing breakfast if it means we get to sleep in.”

 

Lance blinked, allowing himself to be hauled up by Keith and, for once, not marveling at how effortless he made it seem. “Holy shit, it’s Sunday. I can sleep in! What are we waiting for, Keith? Let’s go!” 

 

He hurried to the door, Keith hot on his heels, and then they raced down the stairs and through the corridors, trying much harder to be quiet in the early morning than they usually did late at night.

 

They made it into the common room without incident, Lance somehow managing to not attract any attention despite the fact that he kept giggling and he looked like some form of deformed cloud turtle creature with his head peeking out of Keith’s quilt. Keith picked up the trailing end, intending to make it easier for Lance to maneuver through all of the furniture.

 

“Forget the blanket, there is a bed and sleep waiting with my name on it!” he hissed.

 

And there was Jennings sitting on a chair by the fire.

 

There was a moment in time where they all stopped and stared at each other, eyes wide and all of them looking guilty.

 

“Jennings!” Lance chirped, the first to recover.

 

“Boys,” Jennings said, in greeting or question, Keith couldn’t tell.

 

“We were just- Um… We were going to…”

 

“Nap,” Keith said.

 

For some reason Jennings’ face flushed at that and Lance made a strange sputtering noise that was honestly somewhat concerning.

 

“I had a nightmare and couldn’t sleep so Lance stayed up with me,” he lied, sensing a need to explain himself but not wanting to out Lance. “We didn’t mean to stay out so late, but we’re going to bed now.”

 

“O-oh,” Jennings said, the blush receding from his face. “Okay. That’s okay then. Just try not to stay out so late next time.”

 

“We will,” Lance said, evidently having recovered from whatever strange event had happened in his throat.

 

They were walking into their dorm when Lance spoke again. “Napping, huh? I thought you said we weren’t that close.”

 

Keith shrugged, sitting down on his bed and using his grip on the blanket still wrapped around Lance to pull him down with him. “We’ve saved each other’s lives. I think we’re allowed to take naps together.”

 

Lance sputtered again, watching as Keith scooted over to one side of the bed and got under his blankets. “I-in- in the same bed?!” he squeaked.

 

Keith reached up and grabbed Lance’s arm, pulling him to lay down. “You said you were too cold to sleep. You won’t be if you stay here.”

 

“That… actually makes sense…” Lance admitted.

 

He lay still as a board for a while, clearly nowhere close to falling asleep, and Keith stayed awake too, waiting for him to make a decision.

 

Finally, after Keith was beginning to wonder if maybe he’d overstepped, Lance sighed, going boneless before sitting up enough to untangle the blanket from around him. He got under the other blankets on the bed and spread the quilt over them both.

 

“Be warned that I’ll probably kick you,” he said, shuffling until he found a comfy spot to lay in.

 

Keith smiled, turning onto his side to be able to look at Lance easier. “As it is my bed, I reserve the right to kick you out in the event that such a thing occurs.”

 

Lance scoffed. “Who talks like that after not sleeping all night?”

 

“I do,” he said simply.

 

“Of course you do.” Lance rolled over and buried his face in a pillow but Keith had seen the fond smile on his face and he would hold the image of it in his heart for as long as he could.

 

“Hey, Lance?” he said after a while, long enough that he thought Lance may have fallen asleep.

 

“Hm?” Lance groaned.

 

“Thank you for saving my life.”

 

Lance didn’t say anything for a moment. He fumbled blindly and Keith belatedly offered his hand. Lance latched onto it and then turned his head just enough to be heard clearly. “Thank you for saving mine.”

 

Keith smiled and sunk into his pillows. Sleep claimed him quickly but not before he heard the familiar comforting sound of Lance’s breathing evening out into sleep.

 

Idly, he entertained the thought that he’d have a lot more memories to use to conjure a patronus if things kept up like this.

 

It wasn’t a bad thought.

 

\-------

 

Lance grinned as Luis chased his children through the house, Sylvio sliding through his legs and Nadia giggling and climbing onto the back of the couch behind Veronica, who was completely engrossed in a book. Rachel lay on her stomach on the floor, texting, her feet swaying happily. Luis’s wife, Lisa, was sitting at the kitchen table with Mami and Papa, her hands tightly encasing the remains of a café con leche. He could hear Marco raiding the kitchen for snacks, even though they just finished dinner a couple hours ago. The college student was a black hole when it came to food, especially food from home. 

 

Lance scooped Nadia off the back of the couch, swinging her so she didn’t clock Veronica in the head. He bundled her under his arm, grinning widely at her peals of laughter and the little protesting fists beating against his back. He grabbed one of her discarded shoes by the door and stuffed it on the little kicking foot. He was wrestling the other shoe on in between tickles when Luis finally caught Sylvio and slung him over his shoulder. 

 

“Lisa! We finally got them, let’s get these hyper kids to bed.” 

 

She laughed and stood up from the table, giving her in-laws a kiss goodbye. Marco popped out of the kitchen to wave goodbye as Lisa took Nadia from Lance’s hold. 

 

“Say goodbye to Tio Lance!” she said, tickling the small girl. 

 

“Bye!” Nadia shouted, giggling as Lance peppered her chubby face with kisses. 

 

More goodbyes were exchanged, along with worries of the children being up past their bedtime. Once the door slammed behind them, Veronica was sucked back into her book, Rachel to her phone, and his parents stood up to bring the coffee cups to the kitchen. 

 

“It’s your bedtime too, little bro!” Marco said, catching Lance in a light chokehold and messing up his hair. 

 

“Shove off! I can stay up way later than five-year-olds, dick.” 

 

“Language,” Veronica chimed, not looking up from her book. 

 

Lance began to protest, but was interrupted by his phone ringing. He recognized the familiar Skype tone and immediately got excited. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he screeched “Keith!! I love Keith!” 

 

Veronica snorted, finally looking up from her book. “Your boyfriend from magic school?” 

 

“Ooooooh,” Rachel teased. 

 

Lance scoffed, “No, that’s weird. He’s my roommate.”

 

He scampered to his room, telling his parents that he was going to talk to Keith. Pulling his door behind him, he answered the skype call with an excited “Keith!” 

 

Silence, broken by little gasps, answered him. 

 

“Keith? Everything okay, buddy?” 

 

There was a small choke and Lance sat down on his bed, his heart pounding hard. 

 

“I’m right here, Keith. I’m right here.” 

 

“Lance,” Keith managed to choke out. 

 

“I need you to tell me if you're safe, please tell me you’re somewhere safe.” 

 

“I-” a sob, “I- in room,” two gasps, “nightmare.” 

 

“I’m so glad you’re safe, Keith. I’m here for you. We are going to breathe together for a minute.” 

 

Lance’s hand squeezed the blanket’s under him, trying to hold it together as he guided Keith through getting control of his breathing. 

 

“Good, that was so good, Keith.” 

 

The sobs had subsided, but Lance could still hear the tears in his voice. “Lance,” he sighed. “Thanks.” 

 

Lance smiled softly. “Anything for you, buddy. What do you need? If you want to tell me about it, I’m here. Or I could just talk for a bit, if you want a distraction. Or you could go climb in Shiro’s bed because I totally have done that when I’ve had nightmares, just not Shiro’s bed because he isn’t my brother and definitely is across the ocean, I meant like Ronnie’s or Luis’s or Rachel’s or Marco’s.” 

 

He heard a small snort across the line.

 

“I’m rambling, sorry. I just want to make sure you are okay.” 

 

A small silence stretched. Then, Keith’s small voice came through. “Will you turn the video on so I can see you’re okay?” 

 

“Of course, friend, hold on.” 

 

Lance scooted up against the wall, tucking a pillow behind his back and pulling a blanket over his lap. He tugged a lock of hair into place and then hit the video button. 

 

Almost immediately, he was greeted with a blur in the moonlight. He could barely make out the outline of Keith’s face, but smiled softly anyway. “Hi there, Space Cadet.” 

 

He heard a soft snort, “I still think that’s a dumb nickname.” 

 

“It’s a perk of being my friend.” 

 

“Whatever, Ocean Boy.” Lance could hear the fondness in his voice.

 

“Ocean Boy?” Lance questioned, a small smirk on his lips. 

 

“You always talk about the ocean, so it was fitting. Like Space Cadet. Plus your icon is you in front of the Ocean. It matches.” 

 

Lance hummed, a smile spreading across his face at the rare nickname from Keith.

 

There was a quiet pause.

 

“Lance?” 

 

“Yes, Keith?” 

 

“Will- will you just talk to me?” 

 

“Of course. Any particular topic?” 

 

“Anything. Tell me about your day and family maybe?”

 

Lance proceeded to launch into a full, detailed description about how the sun streamed through his curtains that morning, the birds chirping serenely, when Marco had crashed through his bedroom door and scared Blue into clawing his head. 

 

At least thirty minutes later Lance had slowed down his chatter, after describing how he had single-handedly saved the day by capturing the elusive five-year-old and successfully getting his brother’s family out the door. He could hear Keith’s breathy, sleepy laugh. 

 

“Keith?”

 

“Yes, Lance?” 

 

“Feeling a little better?” 

 

Keith sighed contently, “Yeah. Thanks.” 

 

“I’m always happy to help, Keithy-boy. Whatever my friend needs.” 

 

There was a content, sleepy pause. 

 

“Keith?” 

 

“Yes, Lance?” 

 

“Will you at least tell me what your nightmare was about?” He winced. “You don’t need to describe it or anything,” he continued, rambling, “I just want to make sure you’re okay and if there is anything else I can do to help you and how to avoid triggering you and-” 

 

A soft laugh cut him off. “Lance, slow down, it’s okay.” 

 

“Oh thank god, I thought I made things worse.” 

 

There was another pause, cut off by an angry huff of air from Keith. 

 

“I just- it was-” 

 

“Breathe, Space Cadet. Take your time.” 

 

“I just hate seeing myself threaten you!” Keith burst out. 

 

“Oh.” 

 

He continued, venting now that the floodgates had opened. “I keep waking up, seeing me hold a dazed and bloody and bruising you, threatening to kill you. And just-” Keith sobbed, “I can’t forgive myself even though I know it wasn’t me. What if I hurt you someday, what if he comes back, it was my fault-” He broke into sobs, tearing Lance’s heart apart. 

 

“Keith, Keith, shh, listen to me. Take a deep breath, I’m right here.” He listened for the breath then continued. “Keith, my friend, the best Space Cadet, please listen to me. Can you listen to me?” 

 

He could hear a small sniffle and the blankets jostling.

 

“I can’t see you nod when you’re in the dark, dork.” 

 

A small watery laugh, “Sorry, I’m listening.” 

 

“Good,” Lance smiled softly. “Then remember this. That wasn’t you, will never be you. I trust you so much, both to protect me and never hurt me. If anything, you’re the reason I’m still here, you saved me, right?!” 

 

He could hear another blanket jostling that seemed to signify Keith nodding.

 

“That wasn’t your face, those weren’t your words. These, right here are your words. On the tower that night? Those were your words. You will never truly threaten me, other than jokes to kick my ass if I’m being an idiot or if I stole the last cookie from you. Yes?” 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“I trust you with my life, Keith, and am here for you for anything and any future nightmares. I’m only a phone call away in the summer and a bed away during the school year.” 

 

“Okay, yeah.” 

 

“I’m here for you.” 

 

“Thank you, Lance.” 

 

“Anything for you.” 

 

“Keep talking until I fall back asleep?” 

 

Lance smiled softly, “Of course, Space Cadet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppps[ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp;;;;;;;; 2  
> ,mmmmmmdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx`sv’/ c1`  
> [Love RYU]
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this monster chapter as much as we enjoyed writing it!! Let us know what your favorite part was by leaving a comment. 
> 
> Apologies to all nuns who read this.
> 
> Come scream at us on tumblr!  
> [princexofxflowers writing blog](https://princexofxflowers.tumblr.com/)  
> [princexofxflowers writing voltron blog](https://love-at-first-klance.tumblr.com/)  
> [thesirenserenity's tumblr](https://thesirenserenity.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to come scream at us on tumblr!
> 
>  
> 
> [thesirensirenity](http://thesirenserenity.tumblr.com/)  
> [PrincexOfxFlowers writing blog](https://princexofxflowers.tumblr.com/)  
> [PrincexOfxFlowers Voltron Blog](https://love-at-first-klance.tumblr.com/)


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